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PR. No.346/2006

Date: 27/11/2006

PAKISTAN - U.S HIGH LEVEL DIALOGUE ON EDUCATION TO BE HELD IN WASHINGTON ON 29 NOVEMBER 2006

The first session of the Pakistan-U.S. High-Level Dialogue on Education is being held in Washington on 29 November 2006 .

The Pakistan delegation will be led by the Minister of Education, Lt. Gen.(R) Javed Ashraf. The delegation would include senior officials of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Higher Education Commission and a representative from civil society.

The U.S. side would be led by Secretary of Education Ms. Margaret Spellings and also include Under-Secretary of State for Political Affairs Mr. Nicholas Burns and Administrator USAID Mr. Randall Tobias and other officials from the State Department and USAID.

The decision to establish the High-Level Dialogue on Education was taken during the visit of President George W. Bush to Pakistan in March 2006. The Joint Statement issued on 4 March 2006 on Pakistan-United States Strategic Partnership established institutional mechanisms to promote bilateral cooperation in several sectors, including energy, economy, education, and science & technology.

The High-Level Dialogue has been established to enhance and strengthen cooperation in the education sector. Both sides are committed to expand collaboration across a wide spectrum of areas including improving the quality of education at all levels, public education reform process, greater interaction and linkages between the research and academic institutions of the two countries, exchange of students, scholars, and faculty, and facilitation of cooperative activities in the education sector.

The Dialogue will provide an opportunity for both countries to hold discussions on a range of subjects relating to strengthening collaboration in the field of education at all levels and consider specific proposals for enhancing bilateral educational cooperation.

Islamabad

27 November 2006