November 7, 2002	Thursday	Ramazan 1,1423

Please Visit our Sponsor (Ads open in separate window)

ISLAMABAD, Nov 6: The US Under-Secretary of Economic and Business Affairs, Alan P. Larson, said on Wednesday that the US debt relief of $1 billion for Pakistan was right on track and only awaits approval by the Congress.

“We have assured (Pakistan) that the debt cancellation is right on track and there is no difficulty in that,” he said at the conclusion of his visit to Pakistan.

Talking to reporters after his meeting with President Gen Pervez Musharraf, Larson said that the debt write-off was a part of the complete budget that awaits Congress approval, which would meet after the ongoing mid-term elections in the United States.

He said the United States was extending financial assistance to Pakistan bilaterally and through its cooperation in the international financial institutions in rescheduling the country’s debt.

Larson said his visit to Pakistan was primarily aimed at re-enforcing the bilateral economic and trade ties.

He praised Pakistan’s economic policies during the last three years which helped the country escape financial turbulence that hit the economies all over the world. “Now there is an opportunity to build the country’s progress and growth on that,” he added.

He said the two sides shared views on how to go about in future in increasing cooperation in various fields.

Responding to a question, he said Washington supported Pakistan’s election and democratic process.

About the future economic policies of the Pakistan government, Larson said he would like to draw the attention of the country towards the success stories of those economies which had been able to make progress and alleviate poverty.

In this regard, he referred to the investment in education and particularly opportunities in trade, agriculture and investment, which, he said, were stimulus to economic growth.

Replying to a question, he said no country was constrained to work with IMF, but generally governments find that sound economic policies with the help of IMF could help alleviate poverty.

He said the last three years of progress in the economic field had provided Pakistan with a good platform to move ahead and suggested that the country should work with the financial institutions and other bilateral donors who shared its goals.

About the reconstruction in Afghanistan, he said a lot of headway had been made but it needs to happen fast. The United States, he said, was trying to make sure that a strong infrastructure existed in the country for future trade.

The United States, he said, was trying to support Afghanistan by making the international financial institutions resume their lending programmes to the war-ravaged country. —APP