Finance Minister Ishaq Dar, who is on an official visit to the United States (US), met Pakistani-American tech entrepreneurs on Monday. During the meeting, the role of the IT sector in Pakistan’s economic development was emphasised. The Pakistani-American tech entrepreneurs assured the finance minister of cooperation in strengthening the IT sector of Pakistan. Ishaq Dar also met the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Islamic Trade Finance Corporation (ITFC). Engineer Hani Salem, the CEO, appreciated the support of Pakistan to the ITFC. He also discussed with the finance minister ways and means to further strengthen Pakistan’s cooperation with ITFC.

Earlier, while addressing a press conference in Washington on Sunday night, Ishaq Dar expressed optimism that Pakistan would be out of the grey list of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF). He also said that Pakistan worked hard to exit the grey list of the FATF. “A meeting is expected in a few days, and the government is hopeful that the country will come out of it,” he hoped. It is to be noted here that the first FATF Plenary, under the two-year Singapore Presidency of T Raja Kumar, will take place on October 20-21, while the watchdog will hold a press conference to announce its outcomes on the same day that the meeting ends.

He said that the purpose of his visit to the US was to attend the meetings of International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank (WB) to assure them that Pakistan would continue its economic policies. The finance minister said that the global lenders had asked him not to give subsidies, adding he had assured them that Pakistan would complete all promises made to the IMF and the WB. The finance minister also said that the WB and other international agencies had estimated the losses caused by floods to be at $32.4 billion. “In addition, $16 billion has been estimated for a flood rehabilitation programme in the country,” he stated. “The government is already working on a rehabilitation programme for flood- hit people,” he added.

Credit: Independent News Pakistan-INP