Islamabad, July 13 (ANI): Islamabad and Washington will soon formally sign a new agreement to regulate trucks carrying supplies for NATO troops in Afghanistan, the Foreign Office has said.

The vital routes reopened last week under old arrangements after U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton apologised on July 3 for the deadly U.S. air strikes that killed 24 Pakistani soldiers in last November.

Foreign Ministry spokesperson Moazzam Ali Khan said Pakistan and the U.S. had almost completed technical discussions, and officials were now consulting with their respective authorities to finalise the new accord, reports The Express Tribune.

We are quite hopeful that a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) will be signed shortly, Khan said.

The Pakistan government decided to scrap the Musharraf-era war on terror agreements with the U.S. following the botched U.S. strikes on Pakistani checkpoints near the border with Afghanistan.

Nevertheless, Islamabad lifted the seven-month old blockade before formally signing the MoU on NATO supply routes, a move attributed to intense pressure exerted by the U.S., and mediation by countries such as the UK and Saudi Arabia.

However, the spokesman dispelled the impression that Islamabad bowed to U.S. pressure on the issue of NATO supply routes. Khan pointed out that Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar and Clinton had a 'positive interaction' on the sidelines of an international conference on Afghanistan in Tokyo. (ANI)