ISLAMABAD, Jan 14: Pakistan is expecting new financial support from the United States and the issue will be bilaterally discussed and finalized when US Under Secretary of State for Economic Affairs Alan Larson arrives here on Wednesday.
Official sources told Dawn on Monday that Minister for Finance Shaukat Aziz will hold negotiations with Mr Larson to obtain new US loans on concessional terms.
Mr Larson is accompanying US Secretary of State Colin Powell to discuss the increasing political and economic cooperation between the two countries. The US earlier offered roughly one billion dollars as part of the budgetary support to help minimize the effects of the Sept 11 terror attacks.
This would be Mr Larson’s second visit to Pakistan to forge renewed economic relations, including trade, between the two countries. Earlier, he visited Islamabad immediately after the terror attacks in New York and Washington.
“We are hoping to have increased financial support and better market access in the United States as was earlier promised”, a senior official said and added that the Bush administration had worked out details of renewed market access, specially for Pakistan’s textile products, and that the issue was expected to be finalized during talks between the finance minister and the US under secretary for economic affairs.
According to the sources, Pakistan is also seeking more market access from the European Union (EU) and Japan and the issue will be finalized once the negotiations with the United States are over.
Earlier, the EU offered some market access in the shape of reduced duties and more quota, which is expected to provide additional $400 million during the current financial year. A number of EU countries, including Germany, the United Kingdom and France, have also increased their annual assistance for Pakistan.
The sources said Japan would soon be resuming its annual assistance of $500 million for Pakistan, which was expected to be stretched to $700 million to $750 million due to Islamabad’s decision to support the US-led coalition against terrorism.
Tokyo suspended Pakistan’s annual assistance when the later decided to go nuclear in May 1998. Also it was said that Japan would be announcing new market access for Pakistani goods shortly. Pakistan had earlier been informed that Japan could not write off its five-billion-dollar bilateral debt. However, it promised new financial support on low interest rate.