ISLAMABAD: Pakistan and the Asian Development Bank (ADB) will sign a $250 million loan agreement next week, in a bid to boost cross border trade activities with India and Afghanistan as part of a regional strategic initiative, backed by multilateral institutions and some friendly countries.
The loan agreement will be signed on the side-lines of the 15th Ministerial Conference of Central Asia Regional Economic Cooperation (CAREC) that will take place in Islamabad on October 25-26.
Pakistan has been vying for “appropriate representation” by ten-member countries, as so far most of the CAREC members have communicated to send their vice ministers to attend the Ministers’ Conference, according to sources in the Ministry of Finance.
Finance Minister Ishaq Dar this week chaired a meeting to review the preparedness for holding the event and directed that these countries may be approached again through the Foreign Office to send appropriate representation, said the officials.
One of the reasons for low-level participation by member countries was that Pakistan had also sent bureaucrats to attend these meetings in the past, said the sources.
A Finance Ministry hand-out that was issued Thursday stated that delegations from CAREC states including Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, China, Kazakhstan, the Kyrgyz Republic, Mongolia, Pakistan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Georgia will participate in the CAREC Ministerial conference. It officially did not disclose the level of representation.
Finance Minister said on Wednesday that the CAREC conference would provide member countries an important opportunity to further collaborate in areas of mutual interest to improve regional cooperation.
Dar added that the high-profile visits as well as CAREC conference are proof of the confidence of the international development partners in the strength of Pakistan’s economy.
