Thursday, October 08, 2015 – Islamabad—President-designate Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) Jin Liqun on Wednesday said Pakistan has vast potential in infrastructure sector and the Bank would look forward to invest in the country.
“We believe that investment in infrastructure sector including energy, ports, seaports and roads would help boost economy of Pakistan”, he said addressing a press conference here along with Minister for Finance Senator Ishaq Dar. He said the establishment of AIIB was recognition of Pakistan-China joint efforts for economic progress and social development of the region.
He informed that the bank, going operational by next year would play key role in pushing the economies of its member countries. He also reaffirmed commitment to make AIIB a modern lending institution in the world by sharing the experiences of existing renowned institutions and play its role in socio-economic uplift of under developed countries.
Appreciating the efforts of Pakistan government in bringing reforms in the national economy, he said due to prudent economic policies of the government, Pakistan has achieved macro economic stability which was also recognized by the reputed international economic institutions. He said he had also met with Prime Minister today (Wednesday) and discussed with him range of issues.
Jin Liqun said that the government has managed to build its foreign exchange reserves by over three-times within two years time. “The positive macro economic indicators themselves speak the performance of the government.” Finance Minister Ishaq Dar on the occasion said the MoU for establishment of AIIB was singed by 22 founder countries on October 27, 2014 and Pakistan was among its founding members.
He said so far 57 countries have signed membership of the bank and still more countries were ready to join it. He said Pakistan supported Jin Liqun in election of President of the Bank and after being elected the President-designate, Mr Jin chose to made his first visit to Pakistan. The minister said Pakistan and Turkey were jointly forming constituency in collaboration with other member states and agreed in principle to work together in a joint constituency in connection with AIIB. Ishaq Dar informed that besides Pakistan and Turkey; Azerbaijan, Georgia and Kyrgyztan had joined the constituency while Iran and Dubai had expressed their intention to join it. He said for the region, 70 percent share was required forinfrastructure funding out of which only 35 percent was fulfilled adding that the establishment of the bank would help to make up the funding gap.
Responding to a question, the AIIB head said China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) was not confined to only two countries but it would benefit the entire region including India so it should not oppose the project. Ishaq Dar said there was no pre condition of the AIIB to invest in CPEC because the project was finalized before the establishment of the bank. He said the total initial authorized capital of the bank would be US $100 billion and each member country would be bound to give the share according to its total GDP size. He said prospective Founding Members have agreed that GDP will be the basic parameter in determining share allocation among member countries.
Published on http://pakobserver.net