Hafeez thanks ADB for supporting Pakistan

Advisor to Prime Minister on Finance and Revenues, Dr. Abdul Hafeez said Wednesday that Pakistan looked forward to further strengthening partnership with Asian Development Bank (ADB) under the leadership of its new President, Masatsugu Asakawa.

Talking to mediapersons on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum (WEF) annual meeting at Davos, Hafeez said that the Prime Minister of Pakistan, Imran Khan had an excellent meeting with the new ADB President.

He thanked ADB for supporting Pakistan through various financing tools, which he said have helped turn around the economy of the country

"We are thankful to the ADB for the special financing tools they have adopted to support Pakistan and this is an excellent partnership; and they have contributed in a significant way in a turnaround of our economy," the Advisor added.

Speaking on the occasion, ADB President Masatsugu Asakawa said that it was honour for him to meet Pakistani Premier, which he said was his first official meeting with Pakistan after assuming the job.

He said that Pakistan had been very good partner of the bank for last 50 years and was also one of the founding members of the bank. He said that Pakistan and the ADB were maintaining beautiful relationship for years.

Especially last year, he added, when Pakistan entered into the International Monetary Fund (IMF) Programme, the ADB decided to support Pakistan's reform agenda as much as possible including its agenda on monetary policy, fiscal policy and taxation issues. He said that the bank also desired to support Pakistan's Ehsaas programme, which was targeted to support the poor. He expressed the hope that the cooperation between Pakistan and ADB would continue adding that he would be visiting Pakistan soon to discuss programmes of future cooperation.