WASHINGTON: Federal Minister for Finance and Revenue, Senator Muhammad Aurangzeb, held a productive meeting with Ms. Zou Jiayi, President of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), on the sidelines of the World Bank–IMF Spring Meetings 2026.
During the meeting, the Finance Minister congratulated Ms. Zou Jiayi on assuming office and appreciated AIIB’s robust engagement in Pakistan through an ongoing portfolio of approximately $1.7 billion, with an additional $1 billion in the pipeline.
Senator Aurangzeb highlighted Pakistan’s recent return to international capital markets, including the launch of a Eurobond through private placement after a gap of four years, describing it as an important validation of the country’s macroeconomic stabilization efforts. He also referred to Pakistan’s inaugural Panda bond issuance as a landmark initiative aimed at diversifying financing sources.
The Finance Minister briefed the AIIB President on the economic implications of the ongoing regional situation, particularly its impact on Pakistan’s energy supply chain.
He further outlined Pakistan’s broader development frameworks, including the 10-year Country Partnership Framework (CPF) with the World Bank, focused on population, climate, and fiscal priorities, as well as the 5-year Country Partnership Strategy (CPS) with the Asian Development Bank (ADB).
Senator Aurangzeb invited AIIB to align its engagement with Pakistan’s infrastructure priorities and strategic development focus. He appreciated the Bank’s multi-year rolling lending pipeline, noting that it would enable a more programmatic and structured implementation of projects over a three to five-year horizon.
Both sides acknowledged that Pakistan’s disbursement performance with AIIB has lagged behind that of other multilateral partners, including the World Bank and ADB.
In this context, the Finance Minister informed that the Prime Minister has constituted four dedicated working committees to address key project implementation bottlenecks, including compliance, land acquisition, disbursement, and procurement.
Reaffirming the Government’s commitment to improving institutional processes, Senator Aurangzeb emphasized efforts to enhance implementation efficiency and reduce delays in project execution.
