it's a pleasure to see secretary mchale in the audience, judith mchale and i have worked together in the last sort of, you know, since her appointment as undersecretary, and public diplomacy, of course, is one of the many challenges we have dealt with at our end. so it's a pleasure seeing you here, and thank you for all the help and cooperation you offered here. of the distinguished audience, many of whom i know personally for quite some time which just tells you how old i am, but i would also like to recognize my very able deputy, the embassy of pakistan is very lucky to have a woman as the second in command. hopefully, one of these days -- we have had two women ambassadors, we just probably are better schooled than most countries who send representatives abroad. so i'm very proud to have a very competent woman as my right hand at the embassy. let me just begin by saying that the united states and pakistan have been allies for a long time. pakistan and the united states actually signed a mutual defense agreement in 1959. we started an aid relationship going back to 1949 considering

undersecretary of state for public diplomacy, judith mchale. [applause] principle deputy assistant secretary for economic energy and business affairs, deborah mccarthy. [applause] members of our corporate advisory council and of course our many ambassadors and diplomatic colleagues who work very closely throughout the years on our embassy events. our next one is going to be in july at the embassy exam the end it will be on african women leaders promoting investment, trade and peace. we are hoping that many of you will be able to join us for this very special event. and now it gives me great pleasure to welcome our speaker and moderator. you have -- in your program book so i am just going to give you the highlights and a few of their accomplishments. ambassador haqqani has represented pakistan in the united united states since 2008 and he appears regularly on television and frequently publishes op-ed pieces. he was an adviser to prime minister benazir bhutto and is a journalist, author, professor and scholar. our moderator, karen de young is ass