WASHINGTON, April 13: The international community wants to involve Pakistan in the reconstruction of Iraq and Pakistan, too, is keen to do its part in rebuilding a brotherly Muslim country, Finance Minister Shaukat Aziz told Dawn on Sunday.

Mr Aziz, who is in Washington to attend spring meetings of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank, is also holding bilateral talks with senior United States officials on continued US support to Islamabad.

Pakistani officials said US Treasury Secretary John Snow also expressed a desire in involving Pakistan in Iraq’s reconstruction when he met the finance minister in Washington on Saturday.

“Pakistan will naturally be interested in helping the Iraqi people once a proper government is established there,” said Mr Aziz. Besides the US, the Pakistani delegation also held bilateral meetings with the delegations from Britain and France.

“They feel that as a Muslim country, Pakistan can be a useful partner in international efforts for bringing stability to Iraq,” an official said.

“We have made our position known that we are interested,” the official said.

When the finance minister was asked what assistance was Pakistan offering to Iraq, he said: “It’s too early to discuss such details. We have to wait.”

He said Pakistan was among the eight countries UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan has invited to New York for an Ecosoc (United Nations Economic and Social Council) meeting on Monday. He said although it was an Ecosoc meeting, Iraq was expected to figure prominently in the talks. “It’s good that they have involved Pakistan too,” he added.

Mr Aziz said besides Iraq, the IMF and the World Bank spring meetings were also dealing with other international financial issues. “People are concerned that there’s a slow down in global economy and there’s also relief that despite the war in Iraq oil prices did not spiral out of control as feared.”

He said the need for more financial assistance to developing countries was also being discussed in the meeting.