ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Friday lauded the International Finance Cor­poration’s (IFC) role in fostering private sector investments and expanding portfolio in the country.

In a meeting with Makhtar Diop, the managing director of the private investment arm of the World Bank Group (WBG), PM Shehbaz asked him to enhance IFC support in key areas including infrastructure and logistics, outsourcing of large airports, agriculture, information technology, mining, climate resilience, healthcare and water & sanitation.

Muhammad Ishaq Dar, Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister, Muhammad Aurangzeb, Finance Minister; Ahad Khan Cheema, Minister of Economic Affairs, and senior officers of the Ministry of Finance and Economic Affairs also attended the meeting.

The prime minister appreciated the WBG’s recently launched new decade-long Country Part­ner­ship Framework (CPF) (2026-35) with its unprecedented commitment of US$40 billion. It would include sovereign lending of US$20 billion by the International Develop­ment Association (IDA) and Inter­national Bank for Recons­truction & Development (IBRD). The IFC will mobilise another US$20 billion to foster private sector investments in Pakistan.

In meeting with head of UN in Pakistan, premier stresses need to boost sustainable development, climate change collaborations

Mr Sharif encouraged IFC to enhance collaboration with the private sector arms of other multilateral institutions for maximising private sector participation in the development process and achieving greater impact.

He emphasised on export-led growth and underlined the need for digitisation of the entire ecosystem of Pakistan’s economy. Ongoing digitisation efforts of the Federal Board of Revenue were also highlighted during the meeting.

Mr Diop reciprocated by highlighting the need for increased private sector investments to improve the road and power sector infrastructure, especially transmission lines, airport services, wheat storage infrastructure including silos to enhance the private sector’s role in facilitating exports.

In order to have a healthy population for sustained economic growth, the need of private investment in water, health and sanitation — with desired social safeguards was also discussed at the meeting.

Mr Diop appreciated Pakistan’s productive engagement with IMF and successful ongoing economic reforms.

He said the government’s efforts to create an enabling environment for the private sector operations in Pakistan has increased investors’ confidence.

He assured the prime minister of IFC’s continued support to the private sector in Pakistan duly aligned with the government’s priorities.

Collaboration with UN

Meanwhile, UN Resident Coordinator in Pakistan Mohamed Yahya called on the PM Shehbaz Sharif here. Talking to the UN resident coordinator, the prime minister stressed the need to further strengthen collaboration with UN in the areas of sustainable development and climate change.

The prime minister reaffirmed Pakistan’s strong political commitment to advancing the objective of combating climate change in close collaboration and partnership with the international community and the UN.

Mr Sharif appreciated the important work being carried out by the UN country team in Pakistan.

He conveyed his warm regards for UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres, while fondly recalling his strong leadership in galvanising global support for Pakistan during the 2022 floods.

He underscored that climate financing remained a crucial component of addressing the impacts of climate change, and expressed the hope that the developed nations would fulfil their commitments in that regard.

He said that Pakistan would continue working closely with the UN on important issues in the areas of climate change.

He also emphasised the need for addressing the financing gap to achieve Sustainable Develop­ment Goals (SDGs), as well as for increasing the voice and representation of developing countries in the international financial institutions through reform of the global financial architecture.

Turkish President’s gifts

President of Turkiye Recep Tayyip Erdogan has gifted Turkish electric vehicles Togg to PM Shehbaz Sharif Tog and President Asif Ali Zardari.

While thanking the president for the gesture, the prime minister lauded the strides made by the Turkish automotive industry and looked forward to collaboration amongst Pakistani and Turkish automotive companies in future.

Later, the prime minister and First Lady Aseefa Bhutto-Zardari drove their respective electric cars along with President Erdogan.

Published in Dawn, February 15th, 2025