ISLAMABAD: World Bank President Jim Yong Kim will arrive here on Tuesday and meet Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and Finance Minister Ishaq Dar besides other stakeholders during his two-day visit.

The World Bank said in a statement that Mr Kim would meet Pakistani leaders and stakeholders to find out how best to support making the country’s economic reforms more ambitious. “Kim will discuss how to make the most of Pakistan’s untapped economic potential, the advantages offered by a young population, and the opportunities from its geographical position near huge markets,” it said.

He will meet private sector representatives to encourage them to strengthen their role in economic development to ensure job creation for youths. He will also meet temporarily displaced people (TDPs), students, and the provincial leadership.

“The government has stabilised the economy and it now wants to raise economic growth in order to create jobs for millions,” said Patchamuthu Illangovan, World Bank Country Director for Pakistan. He said the president would meet Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and his economic team, chief ministers and the private sector to see what more support the World Bank Group can provide to Pakistan and its people in ending extreme poverty and boosting shared prosperity.

Mr Kim will be accompanied by Annette Dixon, Vice President for the South Asia Region of the World Bank, Dimitris Tsitsiragos, Vice President for Global Client Services of International Finance Corporation, the private sector arm of the World Bank Group, and Jan Walliser, World Bank’s Vice President for Equitable Growth, Finance, and Institutions.

The World Bank’s programme in Pakistan is governed by its Country Partnership Strategy agreed with the government. The World Bank Pakistan portfolio has 26 investment lending projects under implementation with a total net commitment of $4.99 billion.

The bank has to date committed over $5.6bn in Pakistan, including $1.2bn during the 2015 fiscal year. IFC’s advisory services programme in Pakistan is one of its largest in the region, with 13 active projects and a funding commitment of over $20 million.

The World Bank chief will also witness the launch of a financial inclusion programme by Queen Maxima of the Netherlands. He is expected to call upon the government for continuing and speeding up its reform programme to unleash the country’s true potential with improved trade relations with neighbouring countries and to absorb a growing young population.

This will be the first visit by Mr Kim to Pakistan since he assumed office in 2012.

An official said the visit by a World Bank president to Islamabad after a log gap was a manifestation of trust of the world economic leaders in the government’s economic policies and reforms and would send a positive signal to the market.

He said the bank had stopped doing business with Pakistan about five years ago because of performance of previous governments and only resumed active assistance after noticing the PML-N government’s initial gains which later also led to resumption of cheaper infrastructure financing through IBRD window and International Development Assistance.

He said critical areas like growth, energy, financial inclusion, investment, human development, polio, service delivery, climate change, regional connectivity, gender and displacement would come under discussion during the visit.

Published in Dawn, February 9th, 2016