Finance Minister of Philippines Carlos Dominguez on Monday expressed desire to send a delegation to Pakistan to study China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) as a template for infrastructure development and learn from Pakistan's experience. He made these remarks during a meeting with Federal Finance Minister Senator Ishaq Dar held at the conclusion of the 50th Annual Meeting of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) Board of Governors in Yokohama.
The Finance Minister congratulated Dominguez on his election as the next Chair of the ADB's Board of Governors. The Philippines' Finance Minister thanked Minister Dar. He also extended invitation to Dominguez to visit Pakistan on mutually convenient dates.
In another meeting with Finance Minister of Azerbaijan, Samir Rauf Oglu Sharifov, matters of mutual interest were discussed. Sharifov was quite interested in Pakistan's experience of structural reforms especially in the energy sector.
The Finance Minister assured him of Pakistan's complete readiness to share best practices with Azerbaijan. Both leaders agreed to further enhance the bilateral trade and economic co-operation between the two brotherly countries. The Finance Minister also met with Sri Mulyani Indrawati, Finance Minister of Indonesia. During the meeting, it was agreed that both countries need to further explore new avenues of economic cooperation given the large size of their domestic markets and production capacities.
The Finance Minister apprised his counterpart about the fundamentals and dynamics of Pakistan's phenomenal economic turnaround and future policy approaches to reform various sectors of the economy. Minister Ishaq Dar later met with Sri Lankan Finance Minister, Ravi Karunanayake. The Sri Lankan minister showed keen interest in fiscal reforms implemented in Pakistan. He also expressed desire to learn from measures taken by Pakistan in live stock sector and informed that a Sri Lankan delegation is expected to arrive in Pakistan to carry out study of live stock sector in Pakistan.
Both agreed that Asian Development Bank has been an instrumental and reliable developmental partner with the developing member countries of Asia Pacific. Both leaders also discussed steps to further enhance bilateral trade and investment. Before departure Secretary of ADB conveyed personal thank of President ADB to Finance Minister Ishaq Dar for his valuable contribution and active participation in the conference.
The Finance Minister left Tokyo after successful visit to Japan and arrived in Islamabad.