Pak-US economic ties discussed

Advisor to prime minister on finance, economy and revenue Dr Salman Shah on Monday held a meeting with Robert Kimmitt, his counterpart at the Treasury Department.
He elaborated sound economic performance of Pakistan, while Pak-US economic ties and co-operation came up under discussion. "They held substantive talks on varied topics of bilateral interest," sources said.
Other members of the delegation including Naveed Ahsan, Tanwir Ali Agha and Dr Ashfaque Hassan Khan were also present.
Later, the delegation held meetings with Alan J. Rossi, CEO, Development Gateway Foundation, Ms Nancy Birdstall, president, Centre for Global Development and Ms Manuela Ferro, lead economist on micro-economic development.
Dr Salman Shah attended a luncheon meeting hosted by the Institute for International Economics, a noted think tank, during which he detailed the economic performance of Pakistan.
On Sunday, the delegation attended a meeting with investors held under the auspices of J.P. Morgan and participated in a meeting on 'Principles for Senior Level Issuers and Investors' organised by International Institute of Finance (IIF).
Economic advisor to the finance ministry Dr Ashfaque Hassan Khan told APP besides attending annual meetings of the World Bank and the IMF, the delegation held bilateral meetings with a number of world delegates. He said a number of prospective investors also met the delegation.
"The interaction with multilateral banks and investment houses has been encouraging and important, and those meeting us included Merril Lynch investors, Standard Chartered Bank, UBS Investment Bank and CitiGroup."
"We held meetings with people in the World Bank dealing with different sectors, and touched matters of Pakistan's involvement in various projects."
Then, there was a follow-up meeting with the IMF mission on consultation.
"Updates on Pakistan were provided in interaction with officials and delegates, as well as investors," he stated.
He said the "remarkable economic gains" have earned a fair reputation for Pakistan and added the World Bank president's mention of Pakistan "seven times in his main address" to the annual WB/IMF meetings "is an acknowledgement of Pakistan's economic performance".
In response to a question on the outcome, he said: "We are hearing good name for Pakistan," adding the current visit has been "hectic but rewarding".
He said the visit provides an opportunity to meet and update participants, officials and policy-makers. Of the economic progress made, he said we have been successful in telling the world what our achievements and what we are vigorously pursuing to consolidate these gains.
The fact that Pakistan's growth rate has ranged between 6-8 percent for the last five years, he said, amply reflects the success story. He said Pakistan would do further well with an improved performance by the agriculture sector.
On containing of inflation rate, he said it was 11.1 percent in April, which has now been checked, and it now is around 8.4 percent and efforts were being made to keep it lower at 8 percent.
The delegation will be departing here for New York on Tuesday, where it has a speaking engagement at Asia Society, while it will hold meetings with M/s Moodys and M/s Standard and Poors. It would also visit Boston where it has speaking engagements and important meetings.