ISLAMABAD: Planning, Development and Reform Minister Makhdoom Khusro Bakhtiar has urged the Asian Development Bank to further expand the scope of cooperation with Pakistan, especially in the underdeveloped areas, for sustained socioeconomic development.
Talking to a delegation of Asian Development Bank, headed by its Vice President Wencai Zang, the minister stated that Pakistan appreciated the decades-long assistance of ADB in various development initiatives in the country for achieving its development goals.
Planning Secretary Zafar Hasan, Chief Economist Dr Nadeem Javaid and Infrastructure Member Ahmed Khan also accompanied the federal minister and represented the Pakistan side on the occasion.
The minister said that the present government was committed to strengthening and modernizing the country’s infrastructure, eradicating poverty, improving the lifestyle standard of the marginalized sections of society, providing quality education and healthcare facilities to the masses as well as providing equal development opportunities to bring all the regions of Pakistan at par with each other.
He apprised the meeting that the government was working on a plan to initiate low cost housing scheme for the common man, adding that ADB may support the initiative. The minister said that the government was also focusing on reforming and restructuring the public sector for efficient service delivery for the people.
The ADB vice president on the occasion lauded the commitment of the government with regard to the socioeconomic uplift and human resource development in the country. He said that ADB would continue supporting the government in attaining its development initiatives in different sectors of the country.
