Daily Times

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has sympathized with Pakistan for the losses caused by the recent floods across the country and assured of fund’s support.

The assurance was made by IMF’s Director of the Middle East and Central Asia Department Jihad Azour in his meeting with Federal Minister for Finance and Revenue Mohammad Ishaq Dar. They also discussed the implementation of the IMF programme, according to press statement received here on Saturday.

Meanwhile, the finance minister also met with United Kingdom’s Minister of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO), Ms. Vicky Ford and thanked her government for financial support and assistance to meet the challenges posed by floods. He also appreciated the trade concessions afforded to Pakistan and other developing countries under the Developing Countries Trading Scheme (DCTS).

Minister Vicky Ford assured of the United Kingdom’s continued support for Pakistan during this difficult period. The two sides discussed ways to further deepen bilateral development cooperation.

Dar led Pakistan’s delegation to the high level round table on Pakistan’s floods – impact and response, co-chaired by Vice President World Bank, Martin Raiser and UK Prime Minister’s Special Representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan, Nigel Casey.

The round table was attended by all major bilateral and multilateral development partners and donors.

Initial findings of Pakistan’s post-disaster need assessment jointly prepared by the World Bank, Asian Development Bank, UNDP, European Union and the Government of Pakistan were presented in the round table. In his concluding remarks, Finance Minister emphasized the need for providing adequate support to Pakistan to meet the challenges of recovery and rehabilitation.

The minister had another meeting with Chief Executive Officer Saudi Fund for Development (SFD), Sultan Abdul Rehman Al Murshid during which he conveyed Pakistan’s deep gratitude for the support provided by Saudi Arab to Pakistan at all times and welcomed the forthcoming visit of SFD team to Pakistan. CEO SFD assured of SFD’s continued support to Pakistan, the statement added.

Meanwhile, United States Assistant Secretaries, Ramin Toloui and Donald Lu called on Finance Minister Senator Mohammad Ishaq Dar at Pak Embassy to express solidarity with Pakistan over devastating floods and assure continued US support for Pakistan’s relief and recovery efforts. Other issues of mutual interest were also discussed, the statement added.