Washington DC, 14 March 2023 (GNP): Masood Khan, Pakistan’s ambassador to the US, and Martin Raiser, the World Bank’s Vice President for South Asia, met today. The meeting’s agenda focused on advancing Pakistan and the World Bank’s cooperation in the development and climate change response fields.
On October 14th of last year, Martin Raiser and the United Kingdom (UK) co-chaired a high-level roundtable that was conducted in connection with the World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF) 2022 Annual Meetings.
The topic of debate was how to deal with the consequences of Pakistan’s disastrous floods. In September 2022, he returned to Pakistan and reiterated the Bank’s commitment to aiding Pakistani civilians in recovering from devastating flooding.
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During the Geneva International Conference on Climate-Resilient Pakistan, Ambassador Masood praised the World Bank for providing Pakistan with a $2 billion loan.
Flood recovery, rehabilitation, and rebuilding help included, among other things, support for housing, water and agricultural needs, social protection, and health.
The ambassador said, “The World Bank has been a resolute development partner of Pakistan,” in this regard.
Masood Khan also asked the Bank for more money and assistance for health-related initiatives, especially to deal with the problem of water-borne illnesses in flood-affected areas.
Also, he requested help from the Bank in transitioning from adaptation and mitigation to resilience development. In keeping with this, he said Pakistan was committed to developing a transparent and efficient process for allocating assistance to flood victims.
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He continued by saying that an announcement on the creation of an International Partners Support Group (IPSG) for this purpose will be made soon.
In addition, the Ambassador thanked the World Bank for delivering almost $1.2 billion in pledged funding for several ongoing projects in Pakistan.
He continued by saying that timely completion of social sector programmes will be made possible by a seamless flow of financing.
Martin Raiser asserts that the World Bank is still committed to Pakistan’s long-term prosperity, with an emphasis on the country’s transition to renewable energy sources, notably hydro and solar power.
He welcomed the already-existing collaboration between the Bank and pertinent Pakistani government agencies and projected that it will intensify in the years to come.