ISLAMABAD (Staff Reporter)
Federal Minister for Finance and Revenue, Senator Muhammad Aurangzeb, held a series of high-profile meetings and engagements in Washington D.C. on the sidelines of the IMF and World Bank Annual Meetings, highlighting Pakistan’s improving credit rating, increased investor confidence, and expanding investment opportunities.
During his visit, the Finance Minister met with Saudi Finance Minister Mohammed Al-Jadaan, where both sides discussed strengthening trade and investment ties. Aurangzeb briefed his counterpart on Pakistan’s progress in privatizing PIA and airports, and expressed interest in Saudi investment in infrastructure, particularly in climate-resilient and sustainable development projects.
The Finance Minister also met with Benjamin Black, CEO of the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation (DFC), to explore avenues for strengthening bilateral investment in sectors such as energy, minerals, agriculture, IT, and pharmaceuticals. He welcomed DFC’s interest in private-sector-led investment in Pakistan.
In a roundtable session with the Borrowers Forum, Aurangzeb emphasized balancing debt repayments with investment in social sectors, highlighting the importance of debt management, technical capacity building, and access to sustainable financial resources.
He also met with Azerbaijan’s Deputy Finance Minister Anar Karimov, celebrating strong economic and strategic ties and congratulating Azerbaijan on hosting COP29. He noted progress in bilateral trade through the Preferential Trade Agreement and Transit Trade Agreement, which are expected to expand beyond traditional items like oil and rice into textiles, pharmaceuticals, chemicals, machinery, and agriculture.
Aurangzeb held discussions with executives of the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA), thanking them for support in ongoing arbitration matters and welcoming a proposed short-term trade finance facility to assist in the import of essential goods including food, fertilizer, and energy.
In a meeting with Standard Chartered Bank’s top leadership, the Finance Minister praised the long-standing partnership and discussed Pakistan’s potential entry into international capital markets via panda bonds, Eurobonds, and sukuk, alongside trade financing.
Aurangzeb also participated in the Coalition of Finance Ministers for Climate Action and engaged with renowned British economist Sir Stephen Dercon, as well as The Wall Street Journal for a media interaction.
Concluding the day, he attended a dinner hosted by Ambassador Rizwan Saeed Sheikh at Pakistan House, where he briefed prominent Pakistani-American business leaders on macroeconomic stability, structural reforms, regulatory simplification, taxation improvement, and privatization. He acknowledged the improvement in Pakistan’s credit ratings and growing business confidence, and encouraged the diaspora to contribute ideas for strengthening Pakistan–U.S. economic relations.
Participants pledged their strong support for the government’s reform agenda and expressed interest in expanding their economic engagements with Pakistan.