ISLAMABAD: Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) has reiterated the commitment to supporting Pakistan in meeting its development goals and overcoming climate-related challenges through policy and budgetary support.

This was conveyed by a delegation of Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) led by Vice President Client Region and Project Finance Global Konstantin Limitovskiy during a meeting with Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb in Islamabad Tuesday.

The AIIB team said they view Pakistan as an important partner country.

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The AIIB team briefed the Minister about the Bank’s portfolio investment in Pakistan, including projects initiated in the hydro power generation, building road and transport sector, urban infrastructure development, building climate resilience and dealing with adverse impacts of pandemics, conflicts and climate-induced flood disasters.

The status of ongoing projects and the need for diverting the Bank’s financing from power generation to the transmission and distribution system in view of surplus capacity requiring evacuation were also discussed.

Muhammad Aurangzeb acknowledged the Bank’s support for Pakistan, particularly its funding and technical assistance in dealing with natural disasters and the impacts of climate change and disaster preparedness on a long-term basis.

The Finance Minister expressed satisfaction over the progress of AIIB projects in Pakistan and emphasized further efforts to improve the disbursement of ongoing projects.

He also recalled his meeting with the President of AIIB, Jin Liqun in Washington DC last month, and mentioned his conversation with Liqun regarding Pakistan’s desire to diversify its financing base by exploring the possibility of issuing a Panda bond with AIIB anchoring the process through partial guarantee to send out a strong signal to the market.