The entire Italian loans to Pakistan will be written off after official ratification of the agreement made during the Pakistan-Italy Joint Economic Commission meeting in Rome.
The JEC was convened following Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz's official visit to Italy last July where the two governments agreed to strengthen bilateral economic relations.
The Italian government, during the meeting, agreed to cancel its official debt of about $90 million against Pakistan's earthquake related rehabilitation and reconstruction expenditures.
With the agreement, to be officially ratified soon, the entire Italian loans will stand written off, the remaining having already been cancelled in the recent loan negotiations held at Rome in January this year.
The JEC also agreed to boost Italian investments in Pakistan and to remove the ceiling on credit insurance.
To help exploit the potential of olive production in Pakistan, the Italian government also agreed to extend technical assistance for production of olive oil in Pakistan and committed to send an expert to train the stakeholders in this sector.
It was mutually agreed to form working groups on Energy and Infrastructure, Trade Joint Ventures and Investment, Agriculture and Agro Industries and IT collaboration Human Resources and Technical Assistance.
The working groups shall be meeting at least twice each year. Both sides will be able to complement the capabilities and opportunities in these sectors.
During the talks the Pakistan side was led by Awais Ahmad Khan Leghari the Minister for Information Technology while Claudio Scajola, Minister for Productive Activities, led the Italian team.
Minister Scajola lauded Pakistan's phenomenal economic growth and the steps taken by the government to attract and protect foreign investment in Pakistan and to make it a secure and friendly country.
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