ISLAMABAD: Economic Cooperation Organization (ECO) Trade and Development Bank will provide a soft-term loan worth 150 million Euros to Pakistan.
The financial assistance was announced by the President ECO Trade and Development Bank Yalcin Yuksel, during a high-level meeting with Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif in Istanbul today.
During the meeting, the Bank’s president said the soft loan will contribute to flood relief efforts as well as financial support for the import of fuel.
He said overall financial assistance to Pakistan since the inception of the Bank would touch approximately one billion dollars, after disbursement of this committed amount.
Meanwhile, Prime Minster Shehbaz Sharif welcomed the prospects of expansion of the Economic Cooperation Organization’s (ECO) outreach to the landlocked Central Asian Republics (CARs) for exploring wider economic and trade dividends of the region.
The prime minister further suggested hosting of ECO members countries’ summit including the CARs with proper agenda after consensus which would give a push to the economic activities and regional cooperation.
He urged the ECO to further tap potential of Central Asian countries which had a huge population and offering diverse potential for railways and land network connectivity.
PM Shehbaz Sharif said developing countries like Pakistan required foreign investment and the CARs could be connected via Afghanistan, and these linkages would broaden the economic relations among all the regional countries.
He opined that economic priority was on the ECO agenda and further prospects could provide further opportunities to developing countries like Pakistan. He termed the idea as ‘a game changer’, adding the Gwadar port would serve as a hub for transporting gas to the world.
He opined that railroads and roads connectivity would shape the regional landscape, through a vision of three-way economic cooperation. The countries rich with the natural resources could export their goods through these linkages, he added.
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