Pakistan’s Ambassador to the United States Rizwan Saeed Sheikh has aimed at improving ties with the Trump administration, which would form the new government this month.

“Pakistan has consistently sought to not only establish political and economic relations with the United States but also to elevate these ties to a new level,” he said while appearing on Rubaroo which was aired on Aaj News on Saturday.

“The strategy is also based on this wish. As an ambassador, it is an important responsibility and I will try my best to establish contacts with the new US government to improve ties. Economic ties have more significance. We should build contacts with the corporate sector of the US.”

The Pakistan-US relationship spanned over seven and a half decades. The US remains Pakistan’s largest export market ($8.33 billion, 2022) and a key source of FDI and remittances ($3.09 billion, 2022), according to the Foreign Office.

In addition to the economic relations, Pakistan enjoys “robust defence ties” with the US which has a long history.

Sheikh was among seven ambassadors who returned to the country for a “mini-ambassadors” conference where they informed the government about the mission’s performance and plans in line with the arrival of new governments.

Trump will take office at the presidential inauguration on January 20, 2025. The Republican candidate emerged victorious in the 2024 US presidential election by securing 312 electoral votes against his rival Democratic candidate Kamala Harris who got 226 votes.

When asked, Sheikh said that it was a responsibility rather than a challenge to be Pakistan’s ambassador to the US. He recalled that the two countries ties were old and acknowledged that there has been ups and downs in the relationship.

He was of the view that overseas Pakistanis were the main beneficiaries of better ties with the US, saying that the country’s diaspora was registered as Pakistani-American in the US. “I think they should understand that they are the principal beneficiaries of these ties.”

The ambassador said that international law bars interference in the internal politics of countries.

Sheikh rebuffed rumours that ambassadors’ arrival to the country was “unusual”. He clarified that envoys from seven to eight countries were also in Pakistan to discuss the mission’s performance and review progress.

He called for increasing exports and equipping the youth with the information technology skills to tap the IT sector. “We held Pakistan’s first IT investment conference in the Silicon Valley. We received a good response.”

He expressed hope that the Trump administration would restart the talks right from the point where it stopped during its first stint between 2017 and 2021.

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In response to a question, he said that the origin of the country or inclination of Trump nominees would not affect their decisions as they are “US nationals.”

Sheikh did not agree with the perception that the new US president would focus on Pakistan issues after coming to power as there were many other issues to deal with. “I don’t think there is any such situation in Pakistan which requires their immediate attention. I think the focus will be on ’Make America Great Again.”