ISLAMABAD: Concluding his official visit to France, Finance Minister Ishaq Dar met with French Finance Minister Michel Sapin to discuss trade, economic and investment relations between the two countries.

This was Mr Dar’s second meeting with French finance minister in the last three months, a press statement issued on Saturday said.

Mr Sapin congratulated the finance minister on joining the Open Government Partnership process.

He also appreciated Pakistan’s ratification of the OECD Convention on Mutual Assistance on Tax Matters.

He acknowledged Pakistan’s economic achievements and expressed hope that the journey towards further progress and development would continue.

The finance minister apprised him of the importance Pakistan attached to transparency in public matters and his intention to make Pakistan a member of the OECD convention against bribery in due course.

While expressing satisfaction over Pakistan-France bilateral relations and the decision by French automobile company Renault to start manufacturing vehicles in Pakistan, the ministers emphasised the need to further strengthen ties through the institutional mechanism of Administrative, Economic and Trade Committee (AETC).

They agreed, in principle, to upgrade the AETC to ministerial level, the statement added.

The finance minister invited Mr Sapin to visit Pakistan to co-chair the next meeting of the AETC. Prior to that, both sides would meet early next year at secretary level to prepare the ground for the ministerial meeting.

Export facilitation

In a meeting with Governor State Bank of Pakistan (SBP), Ashraf Mehmood Wathra on Saturday, the finance minister stressed on the need for provision of maximum facilities to export-oriented sectors for boosting trade.

Mr Dar also shared the details of his recent visit to Paris for joining the Open Government Partnership (OGP).

The OGP is an international platform committed towards making governments more open, accountable and responsive to citizens. It was launched in 2011 and 70 countries have so far joined this partnership.

The SBP governor discussed recent measures taken by the central bank on the crackdown against illegal money exchanges.

He also updated the minister on Pakistan’s latest foreign exchange reserve situation.

Published in Dawn, December 11th, 2016