E-Paper
Pakistan PM Shehbaz Sharif to meet Trump on Sept 23? Report reveals plans on UNGA sidelines
The US president and First Lady Melania Trump will host a reception dinner for heads of state and government attending the UNGA on the evening of September 23.
Prefer HTon Google
Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif is scheduled to meet US President Donald Trump on September 23 on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly session, according to a media report.
The US president and First Lady Melania Trump will host a reception dinner for heads of state and government attending the UNGA at the Lotte New York Palace Hotel on Madison Avenue on the evening of September 23.
The News reported on Sunday, citing high-level sources, that Sharif has received an invitation to the dinner, which will be attended by several world leaders.
Also Read | Iran-US war adds to Pakistan's woes as middle class braces for Sharif govt's budget shock
The gathering will provide him an opportunity to interact with other heads of state and government as well, sources told the publication.
Sharif's meeting with Trump would be their latest face-to-face interaction since the inaugural Board of Peace meeting in Washington in February. The two leaders had also met at the White House in September 2025 and at the Sharm el-Sheikh Peace Summit in Egypt in October last year.
Sharif is scheduled to land in New York a day before the reception dinner and is scheduled to address the UN General Assembly on September 25.
In his address, the Pakistan prime minister is expected to raise the issue of India's putting the Indus Waters Treaty in abeyance, sources said.
The 1960 Indus Waters Treaty, brokered by the World Bank, governs the sharing and use of the waters of the Indus river system's six rivers by India and Pakistan.
India put the treaty in abeyance in April 2025 after the Pahalgam terror attack in which 26 civilians were killed, saying it would remain so until Pakistan credibly and irrevocably ended its support for cross-border terrorism. Islamabad has denied involvement in the attack and rejected India's allegations.
According to the sources, besides Pakistan's traditional allies, several other countries have assured Islamabad of support for its position.
Sharif is also expected to highlight the trilateral collective security arrangement among Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Turkiye, signed on August 7 in Makkah, the holiest city in Islam, located in western Saudi Arabia.
Also Read | With Shehbaz Sharif in attendance, Modi calls out 'double standards' on terrorism at SCO
The arrangement, known as the Makkah Joint Defence Agreement, establishes a collective defence framework under which an armed attack on one member is treated as an attack on all three.
The high-level General Debate of the 81st UN General Assembly is scheduled to take place from September 22 to 26 and on September 28 at the UN headquarters in New York. Sharif is scheduled to be the fourth speaker during the second half of the session on September 25.
