Remarks With Pakistani National Security Advisor Sartaj Aziz Before Their Meeting

Statement

SECRETARY KERRY: National Security Advisor Aziz and I are old friends who have worked on these issues for a long time together. And obviously Pakistan is very, very key now, has been for 70 years, but now with the transition in Afghanistan, with the new government in India, with certain challenges that we're both facing in terms of counterterrorism -- we also have major economic issues; energy is a huge challenge in Pakistan. So we have a lot to discuss, and particularly at this moment I think it's good that we have a chance to be able to meet. Thank you.

MR. AZIZ: Well, I was here for this conference on ending sexual violence in the cases of conflict. And when I saw Secretary Kerry was coming -- so I think there's a very good chance to meet again and review all the issues that you mentioned. And also we had the Strategic Dialogue with the U.S. in March, and it's sort of always useful to follow up to see what progress has been made, what more needs to be done. And so lots of things are happening in our region, so this is a very good chance and I'm grateful for this opportunity.

SECRETARY KERRY: Thank you, sir.

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