Dar highlights Pakistan’s reform agenda in meeting with Chinese finance minister

BEIJING: Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar on Thursday met with Chinese Minister of Finance Lan Fo’an and underlined the Government of Pakistan’s reform agenda with a focus on governance, revenue, and ease of doing business to attract foreign direct investment (FDI).

The deputy prime minister, who is on a four-day visit to China, also emphasised Pakistan’s high priority to investments from China, and shared an overview of the priority sectors identified for this purpose, including agriculture, IT, mines and minerals and renewable energy.

Deputy Prime Minister Dar and Minister Lan expressed profound appreciation for the Pakistan-China financial and banking cooperation, calling it a manifestation of the all-weather strategic cooperative partnership between the two countries, the official news agency reported.

They discussed ideas to further enhance financial cooperation, especially in view of growing business-to-business (B2B) linkages between Pakistan and China.

Taking note of the positive trajectory of Pakistan’s economy, the Chinese finance minister commended Pakistan’s economic agenda and reiterated China’s continued support to Pakistan in the efforts to strengthen financial stability.

He also appreciated the deputy prime minister’s contributions to deepening the financial and banking cooperation between Pakistan and China.