September 26, 2003	Friday	Rajab 28, 1424

KARACHI, Sept 25: The government will decide by October 15 when to float the Euro Bond — either in 2003 before December or next year in 2004 — and all other related modalities, the Finance Minister Shaukat Aziz announced in a press conference at the State Bank on Thursday.

The minister, who returned from Dubai on Thursday morning after holding a series of meeting with the senior officials of the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund and ministers of many countries, told reporters that debt office of the Ministry of Finance had carried out due diligence for floatation of the bond. “But we are under no pressure and there is no hurry,” he remarked.

He reiterated the declared intention for floatation of the bond that proceeds of the Euro Bond would be utilized to clear “some of the expensive debts” and eventually “we will not add to our debt stock”.

The finance minister announced that the IMF had completed six monthly review and would give its report to the board in late October after which $228 million tranche would be released.

Sharing his impressions which he gathered in meetings with the international bankers and leaders of developed and developing countries in Dubai, the finance minister said economic growth was showing signs of improvement in Japan and the US. “It is a good news for us because Japan and the US are good markets for Pakistan,” he said.

While recalling his meeting with the Afghan finance minister in Dubai, Mr Shaukat disclosed that a third corridor was being opened in the next few weeks to connect Karachi with Kabul via Kohat Tunnel through a point Ghulam Mohammad Khan. This route, he said, would cut down 400 km distance between Karachi and Kabul and would boost the two-way trade, which he said was already on rise.

The three routes linking Afghanistan and Pakistan he mentioned are (1) Gwadar via Chamman to Kandahar, (2) Karachi via Torkham-Jalalabad to Kabul, (3) and now being proposed Karachi via Kohat Tunnel, Ghulam Mohammad Khan and Kabul.

He said that Pakistan-Afghan trade had picked up considerably in volume and about 10,000 trucks are moving via Torkham every month.

A team of National Bank of Pakistan, he said, was already in Kabul to open the bank branch for which the Afghan government has granted a licence. “This is being done on fast track.” He said Pakistan had offered training facilities in central and commercial banking to the Afghans.

Another significant development in Pakistan-Afghan relationship is the holding of third meeting within a year of the joint ministerial commission of the two countries. Such bilateral commissions with other countries normally meet once in a year, but Pakistan-Afghan Commission is holding third meeting in Kabul in December this year.

PIA will now have three flights a week for Kabul. Pakistan wants to have a daily flight for Kabul.

Mr Shaukat said that he had been assured of $1 billion concessional assistance on annual basis from the World Bank to improve infrastructure and building water projects in Pakistan.

The World Bank, he said, had agreed to offer assistance to Pakistan on a high growth scenario and also to improve the infrastructure.

In his meetings with international bankers and investors, Shaukat Aziz said that he reminded them that their promised assistance for developing countries is falling short by $50 to $60 billion.

He said developing countries, including Pakistan, now wanted to have a balanced representation in international institutions like the World Bank and the IMF and wanted their voice heard by the developed world.

Mr Shaukat said the Oman government was carrying out a feasibility for setting up a water desalination plant at Gwadar and was expected to finance it. There is also a proposal to set up a Pakistan-Oman company and float a micro-finance bank.

The finance minister also met ministers of Saudi Arabia and Iraq in Dubai.