ISLAMABAD: Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb, who is currently in Washington attending World Bank-IMF Spring meetings being held from April 15 to 20, will have no interaction with senior US administration authorities except for his scheduled meetings with some junior level US officials.
Pakistan’s economic team led by Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb, State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) Governor Jameel Ahmad, Finance Secretary ImdadUllah Bosal and Economic Affairs Division Secretary DrKazimNiaz, held a number of meetings so far including with Finance Minister of Saudi Arabia Mohammad Al-Jadaan; Türkiye’s Treasury and Finance Minister Mehmet Simsek; President World Bank Group Ajay Banga; Senior Managing Director, World Bank Axel Van Trotsenburg; CEO, US International Development Finance Corporation (DFC) Scott Nathan; President of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) Masatsugu Asakawa; Regional Vice President for MCT, International Finance Corporation (IFC) Hela Cheikhrouhou; and with Pakistani American businessmen.
Sources said that the finance minister and his delegation would also meet with Assistant Secretary of State for South Asia Donald Lu – the man at the center of the “cipher controversy.”
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Furthermore, the sources said that finance minister and his delegation will also hold a meeting with Elizabeth Horst, Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary at the US State Department, responsible for Pakistan, besides holding interaction with Brent Neiman, the deputy undersecretary of US Treasury Department for International Finance and Development.
However, there is no scheduled meeting with senior US administration officials, the sources added.
Sources in Pakistan’s Embassy in Washington said that delegations from across the world are participating in the World Bank-IMF Spring meetings and it is therefore difficult to arrange meetings with the senior level US officials unless it is a bilateral visit.
“Finance Minister is not on a bilateral visit to the US and he is here to attend the Spring meetings of the World Bank and IMF. Taking this opportunity, Finance Minister and his team are holding meetings with relevant US authorities, officials from the World Bank, ADB and IMF as well as a number of finance ministers from friendly countries,” the embassy official said.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2024