Pakistan's Finance Minister Hafeez Shaikh – File Photo

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan's Finance Minister Hafeez Shaikh said on Sunday that Pakistan is currently going through a phase of transition.

The minister stated this during his inaugural address in the two-day meeting of the Pakistan Development Forum in Islamabad.

Shaikh said that the 18th Amendment is a major development and that the objective of holding the Pakistan Development Forum was not to obtain aid from the world.

During the meeting, Governor of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Owais Ghani said that in order to improve the conditions of the province, billions of rupees were required. Ghani said that due terrorism, numerous businesses in the province had been affected.

Sardar Zulfiqar Khosa, the Senior Advisor to the Punjab Chief Minister, said that the Punjab Government is formulating the means of implementing an agricultural tax, improving the transport system and reducing red tape and terror in the province.

The forum was being held after a gap of three years. Countries participating in the Pakistan Development Forum were going to be made aware of the losses Pakistan suffered due to the floods and also of the various developmental measures taken by the government.

Special US representative for Pakistan and Afghanistan Richard Holbrooke, the British government's Secretary for International Aid, Andrew Mitchell, World Bank and Asian Development Bank vice-presidents and IMF and UN representatives also address the forum.