Pakistan, July 27 -- Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar said on Friday he was hopeful that a trade deal between Pakistan and the United States could be struck in a matter of days, not weeks.

"I think we are very close to finalizing a deal with the US. Our teams have been here in Washington, discussing, having virtual meetings, and a committee has been tasked by the prime minister to fine-tune now," Dar said in a discussion at the Atlantic Council think tank in Washington.

"It's not going to be months, not even weeks, I would say (just) days," he said.

The deputy prime minister shared these views after a productive bilateral meeting with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio earlier in the day; however, the US officials di...