Pakistan's Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani said he still hoped Pakistan could avoid IMF assistance if it wins billions of dollars in aid from friendly governments at a meeting in Abu Dhabi next month. Gilani said his country was discussing the terms and conditions of a possible International Monetary Fund deal to cope with a balance-of-payments crisis. Gilani said Pakistan, a nuclear-armed U.S. ally, has been in discussions with the IMF since last week but officials from both sides have been tight-lipped about the talks. Faced with dwindling foreign reserves, it has a few weeks to raise billions of dollars inforeign loans to meet debt payments and pay for imports. "We are already talking to the IMF and they are talking about terms and conditions," Gilani told foreign news agency in an interview on the sidelines of a World Economic Forum meeting in Istanbul. "The Friends of Pakistan are making a package to get Pakistan out of the present situation," Gilani said. "If our friends start supporting us immediately, maybe Pakistan will not need IMF support," he said.