Gareth Bayley calls on Miftah Ismail

ISLAMABAD: Adviser to Prime Minister on Finance, Miftah Ismail received British Prime Minister’s Special Representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan, Gareth Bayley for a meeting here on Tuesday.

British High Commissioner, Thomas Drew accompanied the visiting dignitary on the occasion.

Matters related to Pak-UK bilateral relations and activities of DFID in support of government’s development plans and programmes were discussed during the meeting.

Regional economic integration and cross border cooperation in the areas of trade and development also came under discussion.

Adviser Miftah Ismail informed Gareth Bayley about the priorities of the government and stated that the PML-N government had made significant progress in the last four and a half years in the areas of peace & security, economic stability, energy sufficiency and social protection.

He said in the remaining part of the tenure, the government would try to consolidate the economic gains made in the last four years and the reform process would continue during this period.

He added that despite challenges the economy was moving forward on the path of inclusive growth and the government was determined to achieve 6% growth target in 2018.

He also made special mention of growth in revenue collection and said further reforms in tax administration were a priority.

Gareth Bayley assured the adviser of the support and cooperation of the government of UK for economic reforms as well as for regional cooperation initiatives.