World Bank appreciates PM Imran Khan’s vision for progress of Pakistan

ISLAMABAD: A delegation of World Bank headed by Hartwig Schafer, Vice President South Asia called on Prime Minister Imran Khan at PM Office.

The delegation comprised of Annete Dixon, Vice President Human Development, Illangovan Patchamuthu, Country Director, Melinda Good, Operations Manager and Nadeem Siddiqui, Sr. Country Manager IFC.

SAPM Naeem-ul-Haq, Secretary Finance Arif Ahmed Khan, Secretary EAD Noor Ahmed and other senior officials were also present during the meeting.

The delegation appreciated Prime Minister’s vision regarding the progress of the country especially his focus on economic stability of the country, human development and addressing the issue of stunted growth due to malnutrition.

The delegation briefed the Prime Minister about various ongoing projects of the World Bank in various sectors including water supply, sewerage and waste management, transportation and connectivity, capacity building and ease of doing business in the country.

The Prime Minister appreciated World Bank’s continued engagement with Pakistan and its support towards capacity building, infrastructure development and economic growth.

Nadeem Siddiqui, Sr. Country Manager IFC, also expressed IFC’s interest in contributing towards Prime Minister’s 05 million Housing Program.

The delegation also offered WB’s assistance in attracting foreign investments, analytics, sharing of expertise and technical knowledge in various sectors to help the Government translate its vision into reality.

The Prime Minister welcomed the offer and said that Pakistan looks forward to greater partnership with World Bank in critical areas such as building knowledge economy and developing tourism sector especially eco-tourism, mountain and religious tourism which, he said, have a huge potential towards uplift of the poor and poverty alleviation.

The Prime Minister also highlighted various steps being taken by the present government towards economic stability, poverty alleviation and improving ease of doing business in the country.