Asad Umar holds meetings on sidelines of IMF, WB spring meetings

WASHINGTON: Finance Minister Asad Umar held important meetings with Asian Development Bank (ADB) President, Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA) COO, his Saudi counterpart and US Treasury Secretary in Washington, ARY News reported on Friday.

The finance minister met US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, ADB president Takehiko Nakao, Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA) Chief Operating Officer Vijay Iyer and Saudi Arabian counterpart Mohammed Al-Jadaan on the sidelines of International Monetary Fund and World Bank’s spring meetings.

Meanwhile, the finance minister met the Secretary of the United States’ Department of the Treasury, Steven Mnuchin. Umar apprised Mnuchin regarding macro-economic situation. The US official was told that the government was taking measures to curb money laundering besides implementation of its legal and enforcement framework.

During a meeting, ADB President Takehiko Nakor and Asad Umar discussed continuation of Pakistan’s ongoing engagement with the Asian Development Bank. The finance minister apprised him regarding the current macro-economic situation of the country.

Nakao appreciated Pakistan’s reform process and assured continued support of the bank, Radio Pakistan reported.

Moreover, Asad Umar also held a meeting with the World Bank’s Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA) led by Chief Operating Officer Vijay Iyer along with his team.

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Both sides exchanged views over the privatisation policy and measures taken by the government for expanding public-private partnership framework.

The investment agency officials briefed the finance minister pertaining its current engagements in Pakistan. They also highlighted that MIGA was now looking into opportunities for expansion of its portfolio in the country.

A team led by WB Vice President for South Asia Hartwig Schafer also held a meeting with Asad Umar to view the portfolio of World Bank in Pakistan.

The high-ups discussed areas where World Bank could further scale up its engagements with Pakistan besides the pipeline of projects.

In another meeting, Asad Umar met his Saudi counterpart Mohammed Al-Jadaan where he apprised the finance minister pertaining to increasing growth momentum of the Saudi economy and potential employment opportunities for Pakistani construction workers in KSA.