The United States Deputy National Security Advisor for International Economic Affairs, Caroline Atkinson, met Federal Minister for Finance Senator Ishaq Dar in Washington DC.
The finance minister while welcoming Atkinson apprised her of the successful meeting on Diamer-Bhasha Dam and said that the participation in the conference was diversified with US investors and financial institutions showing keen interest. The minister said Pakistan’s economy was on the right track and macroeconomic indicators had started showing good results. The first year of the government exhibited good fiscal performance and lending institutions are confident about Pakistan’s economy despite recent hiccups on the political front in the last 50 days, the minister said.
Ishaq Dar informed Atkinson that the PML-N government was actively working on the subject of electoral reforms as the same was part of its manifesto. He said that national and international observers had lent credence to the last general elections and the government was hopeful that the current issue of sit-ins would be resolved soon through political dialogue.
On economy, the finance minister said that during the last year the economic indicators remained positive. The GDP growth after six years touched 4 per cent, revenue growth is 16 per cent as compared to previous 3 per cent while remittances have gone up to 13.7 per cent and as a result the external vulnerability was reduced.
Atkinson expressed her satisfaction over the positive trends exhibited by Pakistan’s economy during the last 12 months and said that she was looking forward towards the Pak-US Economic Working Group meeting. She pledged her all out support to Pakistan for the IMF programme and hoped that Pakistan’s foreign exchange reserves would attain a desirable level and Pakistan would overcome its energy shortfall and tariff hiccups. Atkinson appreciated the exchange of delegations and expertise between the two countries in the technological and information technology areas and stressed upon making bilateral investment treaty a complete success. The finance minister said that the concerned quarters in Pakistan were working with USTR on BIT and both would arrive at a desirable arrangement soon.
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