Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif is expected to meet US President Donald Trump on September 23 on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York, according to a media report. Sharif has received an invitation to a reception dinner hosted by Trump and First Lady Melania Trump for heads of state and government attending the UN General Assembly, The News reported on Sunday, citing high-level sources. The dinner is scheduled to take place at the Lotte New York Palace Hotel on Madison Avenue on the evening of September 23 and is expected to bring together a number of world leaders.
The gathering could provide Sharif with an opportunity to meet Trump as well as other heads of state and government attending the annual UN session. The meeting would be the latest face-to-face encounter between the two leaders. Sharif and Trump previously met at the inaugural Board of Peace meeting in Washington in February.
They also held talks at the White House in September 2025 and met at the Sharm el-Sheikh Peace Summit in Egypt in October last year. Sharif is due to arrive in New York a day before the reception and is scheduled to address the UN General Assembly on September 25. During his address, the Pakistani prime minister is expected to raise India's decision to place the Indus Waters Treaty in abeyance.
The 1960 treaty, brokered by the World Bank, governs the sharing and use of water from the six rivers of the Indus River system between India and Pakistan. India placed the treaty in abeyance in April 2025 following the Pahalgam terrorist attack, in which 26 civilians were killed. New Delhi said the suspension would remain in place until Pakistan "credibly and irrevocably" ended its support for cross-border terrorism.
Islamabad has denied involvement in the attack and rejected India's allegations. Pakistani officials say several countries, including traditional allies and others, have assured Islamabad of support for its position on the water treaty. Sharif is also expected to highlight the trilateral security arrangement between Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Türkiye signed in Makkah on August 7.
The Makkah Joint Defence Agreement establishes a collective defence framework under which an armed attack against one of the three countries is treated as an attack against all three. The high-level General Debate of the 81st UN General Assembly is scheduled to take place from September 22 to 26, with an additional sitting on September 28 at UN headquarters in New York. Sharif is scheduled to be the fourth speaker during the second half of the session on September 25.
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