Pakistan Prime Minister Sharif meets World Bank Group President
By The South Asia Times
ISLAMABAD - Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Monday met with Ajay Banga, President, World Bank Group (WBG), in Islamabad and acknowledged the World Bank's valuable support, which, according to the premier, is instrumental in advancing the country's economic development and reforms.
"The Prime Minister appreciated the World Bank Group for its long-standing partnership with Pakistan and its commitment to supporting the development priorities of the country especially through the 10-year World Bank Group Country Partnership Framework (CPF)," according to an official statement issued from the Prime Minister's office.
Sharif also appreciated Mr.Banga's leadership in transforming the World Bank Group into a more impactful development partner.
'Government of Pakistan is vigorously working on an economic reform agenda with a multi-pronged, comprehensive, structural homegrown program aimed at sustainable economic stability.'
Sharif and Banga reiterated the need to fast-track implementation and ensure strong oversight to deliver impact at speed and scale on CPF-aligned priorities.
These measures would duly assist the Prime Minister’s initiative to address and resolve Implementation Bottlenecks in development projects.
Mr. Ajay Banga commended the Government of Pakistan’s ongoing reform efforts and reaffirmed his commitment to deepening cooperation through a One World Bank Group approach.
He added that greater leverage of private resources, in addition to strong coordination with development partners, is necessary to meet the ambition of the government’s reform agenda.
