Pak PM Shehbaz Sharif Meets Trump In US. The Meeting Lasts 36 Seconds

Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif had a brief encounter with US President Donald Trump on Wednesday during the 80th session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) in New York.

The interaction occurred during an Arab Islamic leaders summit hosted jointly by Trump and Qatar's Emir Sheikh Tamim Bin Hamad Al Thani, according to an official statement from the Pakistani Prime Minister's office.

Sharif, accompanied by Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Mohammad Ishaq Dar, reportedly engaged in an "informal conversation" with Trump after the summit concluded.

Social media footage of the meeting revealed that the interaction between Trump and the Pakistani delegation lasted merely 36 seconds.

The Pakistani delegation to the high-level UNGA segment was led by Prime Minister Sharif, with various ministers and senior officials in attendance alongside Dar.

Although Pakistani media had previously reported that Army Chief Field Marshal Asim Munir might accompany Sharif to the meeting, Munir was conspicuously absent from the gathering.

US-Pakistan relations have shown signs of improvement recently, following years of diplomatic distance. Pakistan attributed credit to Trump for what they called "peace intervention" during military tensions with India in May. Trump has claimed he helped negotiate a truce between the nuclear-armed neighbors using trade and tariff leverage, an assertion that India firmly denies.

Initially, Islamabad stated that the ceasefire resulted from direct military communications between the countries' Directors General of Military Operations, but later credited Washington for the breakthrough, even nominating Trump for the Nobel Peace Prize.

The diplomatic warming continued when Trump welcomed Pakistan's army chief Munir at the White House in June for discussions covering trade, economic development, and cryptocurrency. In July, the Trump administration announced a trade agreement with Pakistan, offering assistance in developing Pakistan's "massive oil reserves."

Munir made another visit to Washington in August, after which Pakistan secured a $500 million US investment targeting the country's critical minerals sector.