Mr. Mohammad Ishaq Dar, Minister for Finance, Revenue and Economic Affairs held a meeting with Mr. Takehiko Nakao, President ADB

September 07,2017

Mr. Mohammad Ishaq Dar, Minister for Finance, Revenue and Economic Affairs held a meeting with Mr. Takehiko Nakao, President ADB on 7th September, 2017 on the sidelines of the Inauguration ceremony of the CAREC Institute in Urumqi, China. Mr. Dar expressed his deep appreciation to President Nakao for his leadership, which has brought the partnership between ADB and Pakistan to a historic high level. He also congratulated him on successful conduct of the 50^th Annual meeting of ADB in Yokohama Japan in May, 2017. He informed the President that Pakistan achieved 1.6 B disbursement from ADB during FY 2017, which is 44% higher compared to FY 2016 and the highest disbursement amongst all multilateral development partners. He said that ADB’s continued technical and financial support for CAREC initiatives will enhance regional connectivity and trade between Central Asian Sates, Afghanistan, China, Georgia. Mongolia and Pakistan. He also briefed the President ADB about the status of Pakistan’s economy, which is on a positive trajectory.  
Mr. Nakao thanked the Minister for his continued support for ADB’s portfolio assistance in Pakistan and assured to further enhance the level of cooperation to 2-2.5 B each year in the next three years. He also agreed to provide 600 M assistance to Pakistan in the form of Policy Based Program Lending for which the GoP has to formulate a policy matrix in the areas desiring attention. Mr. Nakao also requested the Minister for expeditious implementation of National Disaster Risk Management Fund in Pakistan.
The Finance Minister assured the ADB President that he would expedite the progress of ADB funded projects in Pakistan.