Finance Minister Senator Muhammad Aurangzeb, on the sixth and final day of his visit to the United States, continued his engagements and witnessed the signing of a swap agreement between the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) and the International Finance Corporation (IFC).
The signing took place during his meeting with IFC Managing Director Makhtar Diop on the sidelines of the IMF and World Bank Annual Meetings in Washington, DC.
The finance minister hailed the recent reorganization of the IFC, which has designated Pakistan as a regional hub, calling it a strong vote of confidence in the country’s growing economic potential.
He also reaffirmed the government’s commitment to strengthening its partnership with the IFC in all key financial and development sectors.
Highlighting the progress in the Reko Diq project, Senator Aurangzeb expressed optimism about EXIM Bank’s involvement in the near future.
Additionally, he appreciated IFC’s continued support for subnational finance and Digital Payment Rights (DPR) initiatives, as well as its advisory role in sectors such as pharmaceuticals, electric vehicles and commodity exchanges.
The Finance Minister also welcomed Diop’s upcoming visit to Pakistan around the Spring Meetings, expressing confidence that it would further strengthen the collaboration between Pakistan and the IFC.
Meanwhile, Aurangzeb also participated in the 15th V20 Ministerial Dialogue on “Cost of Capital, Debt and Growth Pathways”.
In his speech, he highlighted the increasing frequency and intensity of devastating floods in Pakistan, and emphasized that the Government continues to fund rescue and relief operations from its own resources.
He appreciated the support provided by the CVF-V20 Secretariat in assisting Pakistan with the preparation of its Climate Prosperity Plan (CPP), and informed that funding is being made available under the National Partnership Framework (CPF) to operationalize the plan.
Senator Aurangzeb also underlined the need to operationalize the Loss and Damage Fund and called for accelerating decision-making processes in the Green Climate Fund (GCF) to ensure timely and effective climate action for vulnerable countries.
The finance czar also called on JP Morgan’s top management on the sidelines of the IMF and World Bank Annual Meetings in Washington, DC.
Hd briefed the JP Morgan team about Pakistan’s upcoming inaugural Panda Bond issuance in the Chinese market, noting that it would be launched as a green bond to support sustainable financing goals. He also provided a detailed overview of the government’s privatization programme, highlighting the government-to-government (G2G) sale of First Women Bank approved by Cabinet.
Senator Aurangzeb informed the team that several US companies had expressed interest in the Reko Diq project and that the government was looking forward to EXIM Bank’s participation in the syndication process. He also highlighted the ongoing digital collaboration between Saudi Arabia and Pakistan through the GO AI Hub initiative, which aims to promote innovation and technology-driven development.
The Finance Minister encouraged JP Morgan to explore additional avenues of cooperation with Pakistan in areas of mutual interest, including sustainable finance, investment facilitation and digital transformation.
