ISLAMABAD: Vice President (Operations) of Asian Development Bank, Shixin Chen called on Federal Minister for Economic Affairs Omar Ayub Khan here and discussed the ADB’s technical and financial assistance for Pakistan including ongoing portfolio and priority areas for future interventions.
At present, 37 ADB-Funded development projects worth US$ 7.9 billion are under implementation across the country in energy, road and transport, agriculture, urban infrastructure and social sector.
During the current fiscal year, ADB has disbursed US$ 1.1 billion for various development projects and programs. The Minister for Economic Affairs appreciated the ADB for their continued and enhanced financial assistance to the Government of Pakistan. It was acknowledged that ADB has become the leading development partner of Pakistan in the recent years.
The Minister also acknowledged the ADB’s timely support for addressing health and socioeconomic challenges amid COVID-19 pandemic. ADB has provided over US$ 1.3 billion for COVID-19 response including social protection, vaccination and budgetary support for fiscal stimulus.
The Minister highlighted that through the National Coordination Committee on Foreign Funded Projects, EAD had significantly improved physical progress and disbursement against the ongoing projects by removing major bottlenecks including delays in land acquisition, right of way issues and hiring of project staff.
The Minister shared that Economic Affairs Division was going to implement triad model i.e. physical progress verification by satellites, financial tracking and use of Gantt Charts for efficient monitoring and smooth implementation of the projects.
The Minister, while appreciating the ADB’s continued support to Pakistan, assured the Vice President, ADB that the Government was committed to complete structural reforms in multiple areas. Both the sides discussed new reform areas for ADB’s assistance including Domestic Resource Mobilization, Climate Change and Public-Private Partnerships.
Domestic Resource Mobilization would help the government to create fiscal space through enhanced revenue collection and overcome the challenge of fiscal deficit.
It was agreed to enhance investments in road sector, agriculture, renewable energy, digital connectivity, vocational education and social sector. Shixin Chen acknowledged the GoP’s efforts for reforms in Trade, Energy and Capital Markets.
He also commended the GoP’s successful response against COVID -19 pandemic including mass vaccination program, social protection and relief measures for general public, agriculture and industry.
He appreciated that ADB’s disbursement for development projects had increased by 25 percent in a year due to continuous efforts and follow-ups of EAD & ADB Teams. In this regard, he commended the Minister for Economic Affairs for his proactive approach and dedicated efforts for reviewing the progress of projects on regular basis.
Omar Ayub Khan and Shixin Chen agreed to continue discussing ways to deepen ADB and Pakistan’s development partnership. Nianshan Zhang, Deputy Director General, Aiming Zhou, Senior Adviser, Yong Ye, Country Director, Asad Aleem, Deputy Country Director and Nasruminallah Mian, Senior Project Officer of ADB also joined the meeting.
