ISLAMABAD - Pakistan and Asian Development Bank (ADB) on Wednesday signed a loan agreement of $250 million for Central Asia Regional Economic Cooperation (CAREC)’s Regional Improvement of Border Services project.
Economic Affairs Division Secretary Tariq Bajwa and ADB Country Director Werner E Liepach has signed the loan agreement here in Islamabad. Finance Minister Ishaq Dar and ADB President Takehiko Nakao witnessed the signing ceremony.
Later, addressing a press conference, Nakao said Pakistan has made encouraging progress by controlling the fiscal deficit and inflation rate and increase GDP’s growth and revenue collection, adding that country’s foreign exchange reserves have built up. He emphasized for continuation of reforms programme for fetching foreign investment in the country.
He said that ADB has not allocated any funds for the Diamir Bhasha dam yet. He further said that there is need to make investment in power production and its transmission system. There are issues like governance, corruption and tax evasion, he added. He noted that governance and security issues are the main challenges for the government. ADB would continue its cooperation and support the country in development of infrastructure and social sector, he remarked. He said that ADB will continue supporting Pakistan in sectors of energy, infrastructure, trade, health, and social development.
Finance minister thanked ADB for providing support to Pakistan in the border management sector. He assured Pakistan’s commitment to mobilise all possible resources for improving and developing regional connectivity and linkages particularly with Afghanistan and Central Asian Region. Furthermore, he mentioned that the government is very much keen to enhance economic cooperation with Central Asia.
He termed the CAREC conference a highly successful and productive. He said Georgia became the 11th member of the CAREC and it has formally been adopted in the forum.
A loan of $150 million comes from ADB’s ordinary capital resources and the remaining $100 million is from its concessional Asian Development Fund. The government is providing another $50 million. The project will run for 5 years, with a target completion date of December 2021.
Meanwhile, the 15th Ministerial Conference of the Central Asia Regional Economic Cooperation (CAREC) with the theme “Linking Connectivity with Economic Transformation in CAREC” was held here on Wednesday.
Finance Minister Ishaq Dar chaired the conference with ADB Vice President Wencai Zhang as co-chair. PM Nawaz Sharif graced the inaugural session of the conference. ADB President Takehiko Nakao was also present on the occasion.
Dar appreciated the leadership of President Nakao and thanked him for the continued commitment of ADB to support economic cooperation and development amongst CAREC member states. He welcomed the ministers and senior officials from ten member states, ie, Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, China, Kazakhstan, the Kyrgyz Republic, Mongolia, Pakistan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan who are attending this conference. He also warmly welcomed Georgia, the newest and 11th member of the CAREC family and said that it was a memorable occasion that Georgia joined the CAREC family at the 15th conference hosted in Pakistan. Genadi Arveladze, Deputy Minister of the Ministry of Economy and Sustainable Development of Georgia, presented remarks on behalf of his country and formally joined the conference.
Multilateral and international development agencies including IMF, WB, IDB, ADB, UNDP, JICA, USAID, DFID of UK, EBRD and WTO participated in the meeting. Representatives of these agencies expressed their continued support to the CAREC forum and congratulated Pakistan for holding the 15th ministerial conference, stating that it is a sign of the country’s commitment towards regional cooperation, increased connectivity, shared prosperity and elimination of poverty.
While chairing the meeting, Dar gave an overview of Pakistan’s economy and said that all key macroeconomic indicators have recorded significant improvement in the country over the past three years. He said that Pakistan is now well positioned to play a pivotal role in enhancing economic cooperation between CAREC member states. He emphasized the importance of developing road, rail and energy corridors within the CAREC countries and said that the CPEC will complement the regional connectivity initiatives of CAREC countries as it offers a massive opportunity for connectivity between Central Asia, Middle East and Africa and is bound to play a defining role in the economic development of CAREC region.
Dar said that the conference provides a valuable opportunity for enhancement of regional ties in four areas of CAREC focus, ie, energy, transportation, trade policy and trade facilitation. He said that infrastructure development was a prerequisite to increased growth and urged the multilateral partners to increase their development collaboration with CARERC member states in this area to bridge the financing gaps.
Representatives from all participating countries expressed their condolence to the finance minister on the loss of life and the tragedy which struck the Quetta Police Training College. They expressed solidarity with Pakistan in these times of grief.
The conference was followed by a CAREC Ministerial Retreat with Finance Minister of Pakistan and ADB president in chair. The participants exchanged candid views and ideas to explore maximum opportunities to ensure better economic cooperation and regional connectivity among the CAREC member countries and resolved to undertake all the challenges collectively. They expressed gratitude to the government of Pakistan for the hospitality and congratulated the finance minister for successful conduct of all activities within the CAREC programme.
NNI adds: Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif Wednesday said that Pakistan is experiencing an economic revival at present, with a greater momentum gained in energy, transport and infrastructure activities under the CPEC.
While addressing at the 15th meeting of the CAREC in Islamabad, he said, “CPEC will go beyond bilateral initiatives and lead to uplift and economic development of whole region.” More than 200 participants from 10 member countries and multilateral development partners are attending the event.
“I am confident that besides Pakistan, the benefits of CPEC would be multiplied for the CAREC countries as well, by the cooperation and integration of member countries,” Nawaz said. “Pakistan is committed to promote economic and social development through regional cooperation, he said. “Pakistan firmly believed that through regional cooperation much better results can be achieved in our fight against poverty,” PM said.
PM Nawaz called for establishment of a “pool of experts” drawn from finance, banking, capital market, energy, transport, and trade and infrastructure sectors. “This pool of experts should be open not only to government but also to businesses, industry, non-government organisations, researchers and academia. This will result in intra-regional transfer of knowledge and multi-dimensional benefit for all,” he said.
The prime minister appreciated the progress so far achieved by CAREC and proposed several measures to boost regional cooperation. He offered to share Pakistan’s expertise in stock market to other member countries of CAREC. He said CAA was serving a few members of CAREC on bilateral basis. This should be brought under the regional umbrella to cover all member states under Aviation and Open Skies agreement, he added.
He said Pakistan believes CAREC is a premier organisation with clear and cohesive vision of promoting cooperation among member countries in the areas of mutual interest.