February 8, 2002	Friday	Ziqa’ad 24, 1422

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ISLAMABAD, Feb 7: Italian Deputy Foreign Minister Mrs Margherita Boniver here on Thursday met Finance Minister Shaukat Aziz and discussed with him modalities of utilizing $85 million Italian debt swaps by Pakistan.

He briefed her about the social and economic pressures of Afghan refugees on such services as health, education and infrastructure, established for the people of the NWFP and Balochistan.

The government, he pointed out, was committed to relieving these pressures through increased allocations to provide adequate health cover, education facilities and social services. This, in turn, would improve standard of living of the people of these provinces, specially the people of tribal areas.

It would also reduce poverty, ignorance and the sense of deprivation among the people, the minister said.

The two sides agreed to work out a plan for appropriate use of funds so that outcomes matched the size of their spending.

The finance minister appreciated the support of Italian government for stock profiling of debt by the Paris Club. He also lauded the role of Italian government in getting Pakistan market access to European Union. He said these measures would offset, to a certain extent, the adverse financial impact of the post-Sept 11 scenario.

However, Aziz said that foreign exchange reserves had reached $5 billion level, which was an all-time high, cash flow was satisfactory, exchange rate had stabilised and inflation was pegged at 2.6 per cent. As a result, Pakistan was in a position to divert funds to the social sector for poverty alleviation through increased allocation to health, education and social infrastructure.