It was also suggested to the business community to ventilate their views or grievances jointly at the appropriate forum for clearing confusion and remove irritants, if any.
The US government, on its part, is interested in streamlining Pakistan's economy, particularly in its textile sector.
APTMA Chairman, Waqar Monnoo briefed the US diplomat about the impediments in the exports of textiles to USA and requested provision of a level playing field to Pakistan.
A frank discourse between important representatives of the private sector and the officials of US government involved in economic relations with other countries, in our view, is a welcome development.
This helps in proper understanding of the issues and further strengthening of the economic and trading relationship by removing the obstacles recognised by the trading partners.
Such a regular contact is all the more required from Pakistan's point of view because the country is highly dependent on US for inflow of investment resources and promotion of its exports in view of the size of the US market.
Also, a favourable view of the economy by US authorities could pave the way for investment and assistance from other sources, including the multilateral institutions.
As for the advice to improve the law and order situation in the country to attract US investment, it is both valid and timely. Latest macro-economic indicators show that Pakistan's economy is now sufficiently stable.
Budget deficit and inflation are down, current account balance is in surplus, foreign exchange reserves are at a historic high and the Rupee is stable.
These are commendable achievements but cannot be sustained and their benefits have not yet trickled down to the people due to stagnation in the level of investment.
One of the major factors impeding investment and equally applicable to Pakistani and foreign investors is the lack of proper security.
The law and order situation continues to be poor and, therefore, investors do not dare to venture into the field and commit their resources on a long-term basis.
They obviously fear for their lives where even the President of the country is not perfectly safe and foreign teams refuse to play matches due to safety factor.
One can somehow learn to survive and make profits in a country where there is red tape and corruption but survival in a physical sense is another matter.
It needs to be recognised, however, that the government has made good progress on some other fronts, which would inevitably help in raising investment, both from domestic and foreign sources, and foster development.
The controversy on LFO is now behind us and tensions with India would definitely ease after the recent agreement to start a composite dialogue after a few weeks.
The Devolution Plan is, more or less, in place, at least for a certain number of years.
Conditions on the ground for investment are definitely much better than before but could be vastly improved if, as advised by US Deputy Economic Counsellor, law and order situation could be improved.
This is a challenge, which needs to be faced and tackled more squarely. Efforts of the government in this regard are much less than adequate so far.
Public Safety Commissions in various provinces have yet to take shape or initiate useful work, confusion still prevails with regard to the administrative control and job classification in the police force, and the confidence in judiciary continues to be low.
It needs to be stressed that proper law and order situation is not only essential to encourage investment but is a must for the creation of a just society without which, nations cannot survive for long.