Pakistan, World Bank agree on long-term partnership under ambitious CPF

• Pakistan and World Bank agree to work together on CPF.
• The Prime Minister lauds the World Bank’s contribution to Pakistan’s development.
• WB ready to work with Pakistan: Martin Raiser.
  

Pakistan and the World Bank have agreed to work together on a new, robust and ambitious Country Partnership Framework (CPF) to advance the country’s reform and development agenda.

The agreement was reached during a meeting between Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and a delegation led by World Bank Regional Vice President for South Asia Martin Riser on Wednesday.

Welcoming Martin Raiser, Prime Minister Shehbaz praised the World Bank’s contribution to Pakistan’s development.

The Prime Minister appreciated the support provided by the leading bank to build climate resilient infrastructure after the 2022 floods in Pakistan.

He briefed the delegation about the government’s reform agenda, including digitization of the entire tax system, reforms in the power sector, enhancing yield per acre in the agricultural sector, addressing the issue of child stunting, etc.

Appreciating Pakistan’s aggressive reform agenda, Martin Riser said the World Bank is ready to partner with the country in its journey to transform the economy towards sustainable development.

Both sides agreed to engage in a long-term, focused partnership under a new country partnership framework with an annual review mechanism to assess progress and ensure results are being achieved.

The strategy will include flexibility for future course corrections. The new partnership will aspire to achieve transformative impact over a decade on a select set of critical development priorities for Pakistan.

The initial set of priorities discussed at the meeting included structural economic reforms, including domestic resource mobilisation, notably through digitization and tax policy reforms.

Human capital development was also discussed, especially in addressing child retardation and improving basic learning.

Similarly, energy sector reforms were discussed, including increased private sector participation in transmission and distribution, and the transition to green energy to make energy cheaper, cleaner and economically sustainable.

In order to better address increased water scarcity and climate-related escalations, both sides emphasized cooperation on climate adaptation.

To increase economic opportunities, including in the agricultural sector, Pakistan will benefit from the World Bank’s expertise in mobilizing global expertise and best practices, building institutional capacity, leveraging digital transformation and engaging the private sector, among others through the private sector arm of the World Bank, the International Finance Corporation and the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency.

The two sides agreed that the process of preparing the new country partnership framework will consist of consultations with federal and provincial governments as well as academia, parliamentarians, civil society, development partners and the private sector.

The World Bank will coordinate with stakeholders to discuss partnership priorities, duly aligned with the Government of Pakistan’s key development priorities and strategy.

The Prime Minister witnessed the signing of a joint communique on the matter by World Bank Country Representative Najy Benhassine and Economic Affairs Secretary Dr Kazim Niaz.

The meeting was also attended by Finance Minister Ahad Khan Cheema, Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb, Petroleum Minister Dr Musadik Malik, IT Minister Shaza Fatima Khawaja, Deputy Chairman Planning Commission Dr Jehanzeb Khan and senior government officials.