ISLAMABAD, Jan. 26 (Xinhua) -- Pakistan looks forward to working with the new U.S. administration under President Donald Trump as the country has longstanding relationship with America, a spokesman of the Foreign Office here said Thursday.
"Pakistan and the U.S. have strategic dialogue mechanism, covering diverse areas including economic, security, defense, education, scientific research and cooperation in other areas. Relations between the two countries will be strengthened further in the coming years," the spokesman Nafees Zakaria said at his weekly news briefing.
The Pakistani Foreign Office offered the remarks for the first time since Trump has been inaugurated as the U.S. president a week ago.
On Dec. 1, the office of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif said he spoke to Donald Trump via the phone and welcomed his offer of playing a role in resolution of longstanding issues.
It was the first telephone conversation between the two leaders after Trump's victory in elections. Sharif had also invited Trump to visit Pakistan.
The prime minister had also sent his special assistant Tariq Fatimi to the United States for interaction with the new interim administration.
To a question regarding Trump's statement about what he called Islamic terrorism, the Pakistani spokesman said terrorism has no religion, caste, creed or color. "It is a global phenomenon and global cooperation is required to deal with this menace."
On Afghanistan, Zakaria said politically negotiated settlement is more viable solution for Afghanistan, urging all parties should engage each other for talks.
"No result has come out of fifteen years military action in Afghanistan," the spokesman said.
