New Delhi:
Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan wants to stay at the envoy's official residence in Washington instead of an expensive hotel during his visit to the US. This is to reduce cost of the trip in the cash strapped nation, a media report has said. Khan after assuming office last year, launched several austerity measures.
Imran Khan is scheduled to visit the US on a maiden trip on July 20 during which he would face-to-face talks with US President Donald Trump. Khan, would have first face-to-face talks with US President Donald Trump.
The trip, originally planned in June, was postponed because of the prime minister’s prior domestic engagements, especially due to federal budget 2019.
The International Monetary Fund's executive board last week approved a three-year USD 6 billion bailout plan to resuscitate Pakistan's ailing economy.
The ambassador’s residence is in the heart of Washington’s diplomatic enclave. There are at least a dozen embassies in and around that area, including those of India, Turkey and Japan.
A visiting government head holds a number of meetings with US officials, lawmakers and media and think-tank representatives during his stay in Washington.
Since the residence is not large enough for all these meetings, the prime minister will have to meet his guests at the Pakistan embassy, commuting through Washington’s busy traffic during rush hours. To do so, his entourage will have to drive by most of these embassies as well as the US vice president’s official residence, the report said.
Some immediate family members of President Trump also live between the two locations.
Any closure of the street on which the ambassador’s residence is situated will prevent other residents, including several ambassadors, from travelling to and from their workplaces during the three-day stay of Khan.
Security issues force visiting heads of state and government to stay at one of half a dozen hotels that have special arrangement for VVIPs. This makes it easy for the US secret service to protect the guest.
But if the prime minister still wants to avoid a hotel, he can stay with one of the rich Pakistani-Americans in the DC suburbs, the report said.
