World acknowledges Pak economic stability: Nawaz

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif said on Wednesday that the world has acknowledged the economic stability of Pakistan as the economic managers are committed and focused on providing an economic environment conducive to the private sector.
“The economy of Pakistan is turning around and we have an impressive economic growth rate,” he said. He expressed these views during a meeting with President-designate of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) Jin Liqun.
Jin Liqun lauded the performance of Pakistan’s economic team for improving the economic outlook of the country.
He assured that the bank would assist Pakistan in infrastructure projects and other economically-productive projects in a cost efficient and effective manner. The prime minister told the visiting dignitary that the government had invested a lot of resources in the energy and infrastructure projects with the help of China and work on various projects had already been started.
The prime minister said that linking Pakistan with the Central Asian Republics (CARs) through a quality road network was the government’s priority as Gwadar was also being upgraded as a modern seaport to provide access to the landlocked CARs.
Jin Liqun thanked the prime minister for the support of his government and his personal support for establishing the AIIB. Jin told the prime minister that the bank was specifically established to assist the Asian countries and that the majority of the shares of the bank were held by the Asian countries.
Meanwhile, Minister of Finance Senator Ishaq Dar said that Pakistan would welcome the financing of the China-led Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) for the multi-billion dollar 4,500MW Diamer-Bhasha Dam.
“A consortium of Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), International Finance Corporation (IFC) and Asian Development Bank (ADB) will finance Pakistan’s much needed Diamer-Bhasha Dam,” said Ishaq Dar at a joint press conference with the bank’s president-designate Jin Liqun here.
Pakistan has already initiated the mega project, as land is being acquired and its PC-1 has been approved by the ECNEC (Executive Committee of the National Economic Council). The government has also focused on simultaneously working on Diamer-Bhasha Dam and Dasu Dam [which has reached its financial close].
In the last 60-70 years in this region, the World Bank and Asian Development Bank have provided to the region around 30 percent of their total infrastructure projects funding, while the region’s requirement is about 70 percent. The AIIB will help boost the funding and plug the gap by providing funding to infrastructure projects, Dar said.
Jin Liqun is currently on Pakistan’s visit and has met the prime minister and other government officials. He informed the minister that a team of AIIB officials would soon visit Pakistan to meet Pakistani officials and ascertain ideas about the possible areas/projects where the AIIB could provide funding.
“We hope to begin lending in the first half of next year. Clearly identifying which projects we can or cannot support will take some time. I am confident that it wouldn’t be long before the AIIB would finance its first project here in Pakistan,” Jin Liqun said.
“Our bank, with close collaboration of existing banks including WB and ADB, will finance infrastructure projects in the region. We believe we have a great future,” he said.
Jin Liqun said that the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) would not only benefit Pakistan but also the whole region. He hoped that India would support the CPEC, as the project was for regional connectivity and not specific only to Pakistan and China.
Pakistan is an important regional prospective founding member of the bank. Along with 21 other countries, Pakistan signed the original Memorandum of Understanding on establishing the AIIB in Beijing almost exactly one year ago. Since then, 35 more countries have already applied to join the bank.