High level ADB delegation meets Salman
By Asim Hussain

ISLAMABAD—A high level delegation of Asian Development Bank led by Mr. Juan Miranda, Director General, Central and West Asia Department held a meeting with Dr. Salman Shah, Adviser to Prime Minister on Finance, Revenue, Economic Affairs and Statistics and senior officials of the Ministries of Finance, Planning, Agriculture, Communications and others to discuss the ADB future assistance programme for different sectors of Pakistan's economy here Wednesday.
Briefing the Adviser to PM, the ADB Director General said that the main objective of his department was to evolve a focused and targeted strategy for preparation and implementation of its various programmes by creating an enabling environment for both the private and public sectors.
He stressed the emphasis on involvement of private sector in different sectors of the economy. He supported the second-generation reforms being implemented by the government.
He said that ADB programme in Pakistan will be enhanced to about two billion dollars annually which would be available for development of energy, transport, urban services, infrastructure and the social sectors as well as for second generation reforms and projects in the water and agriculture sector.
Support will be provided for financial sector and capital market reforms and for public resource management. He emphasized on improving productivity, efficiency, credibility and liberalization in the overall development plans of the country. He also stressed that more and frequent interactions would be held between the ADB and the project executors for successful and timely completion of the projects.
About agriculture sector, the ADB emphasized on raising the productivity and integration of various projects under a cohesive overall framework. The ADB official said that an integrated rural development programme with development projects like development of livestock, building of farm to market roads, providing inputs to small and marginal farmers would be coordinated to close the urban-rural gap.
Referring to the proposed mega city project in Karachi, the ADB official said that the project would involve about 800 million dollars. The ADB expressed its plans to invest about 250 million dollars in the sectors of energy and power in 2006. It said that it would spend about 150 to 200 million dollars a year on building of national highway authority programmes.
In addition an investment of around a billion dollars would be made for National Trade Corridor connecting Karachi with northern borders under the proposed programme. The ADB also showed its readiness to finance projects in education, health and sanitation.
About the agriculture sector, the Adviser said that agriculture has to be commercialized. The Adviser said that there was much potential in developing the agriculture sector to make it more competitive and profitable.
Referring to the mega city project, the Adviser said that Karachi should become a real financial, industrial and commercial center of the region. It should be benchmarked with other mega cities like Singapore, Bangkok, Kuala Lumpur etc. He stressed that it should become a driver of growth for Pakistan.
The Adviser said that after completion of the national trade corridor, Pakistan would become the center of regional cooperation with China and the Central Asian Republics. He said that development of the capital markets was key for economic development and national competitiveness.
The Adviser also informed the delegation that there was a big scope of promoting the insurance sector in Pakistan. He said that there was still a great opportunity for expanding capital markets with new instrument of financing like private equity, voluntary pension schemes, REITS, mutual funds etc.