Dar meets WB President Zoellick

WASHINGTON—Finance Minister Ishaq Dar met with World Bank President Robert Zoellick here Friday morning at the start of a series of interactions at the annual World Bank-IMF spring 2008 meetings.
The World Bank chief welcomed the new Pakistani Finance Minister as they discussed economic development of the country. Dar is leading a delegation of the country’s top economic managers to the annual meetings of global financial institutions in the US capital.
The delegation includes Governor State Bank Dr Shamshad Akhtar, Secretary Finance Dr Waqar Masood Khan and Special Secretary to the Ministry of Finance, Dr Ashafq Hassan Khan. During the event, the minister will avail the opportunity to meet a number of his counterparts from other countries to discuss expanding bilateral economic cooperation as well as exchange views on international trade and economic issues. He will attend the World Bank Development Committee meeting. He will also meet with senior US officials from the State and Treasury departments to discus further enhancing bilateral economic and trade ties.
Besides, the finance minister will have a roundtable with the Pakistan-US Business Council of the US Chamber of Commerce and Industries and brief the entrepreneurs about economic and investment policies of the new coalition government. The hectic schedule, arranged by the economic division of the embassy at the annual WB-IMF event, also includes meetings with Managing Director IMF Dominique Strauss Kahn and President of International Finance Commission Lars Thunel and other senior officials.