Asian Development Bank (ADB) Country Director Werner Leipach and Pakistan’s Executive Director in the ADB Sami Saeed separately called on Finance Minister Senator Mohammad Ishaq Dar at the Ministry of Finance on Monday.
Leipach apprised the minister of the progress of the ongoing ADB portfolio in the country and plans relating to financing of projects in 2016. He mentioned that ADB’s total co-financing for Pakistan stood around $1050 million including $400 million grant commitments from DIFD. ADB has also provided trade finance support for the private sector investments to the tune of $95 million.
While sharing the details of ADB’s financing plans for the coming year 2016, Leipach said that the Bank planned to provide financing of around $1.2 to $1.5 billion dollars, mainly in the field of infrastructure under the Public Private Partnership mode. He further stated that the establishment of Natural Disaster Risk Management Fund and its operationalisation will be one of the priorities of ADB in the year 2016. ADB is also planning to explore opportunities of co-financing from new sources through Islamic Financing and Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB). The AIIB assistance will be sought for the M4 Project, Shorkot-Khanewal Section, near the China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) route.
The finance minister appreciated the role of Asian Development Bank for financing projects in various sectors. He said that the government was fully focused on growth and employment generation and the financing provided by the ADB and other multilateral institutions would play an important part in achieving these objectives.
Sami Saeed briefed the minister on various matters related to Pakistan’s constituency in the ADB as well as the annual meetings from of the Bank scheduled from May 2 to 5, 2016. The finance minister directed the executive director to maintain close liaison with the Ministry of Finance and ensure proactive role of the constituency in the ADB Board.