ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb has held a series of high-level bilateral engagements on the sidelines of the Fourth International Conference on Financing for Development (FFD4), currently underway in Seville, Spain.
These meetings were aimed at fostering deeper strategic cooperation with partner countries and institutions across areas such as development finance, trade, climate resilience, and institutional capacity-building, according to a press release issued by the finance ministry on Thursday.
As part of his bilateral meetings, the minister met with Eelco Heinen, Minister of Finance of the Netherlands, for a detailed bilateral exchange.
The meeting focused on further strengthening the long-standing and cordial ties between the two countries, particularly in the domains of trade, development cooperation, climate resilience, and institutional capacity-building.
Both sides shared perspectives on enhancing economic engagement, technical collaboration, and the potential for deepening partnerships in areas such as blended finance, climate finance, and digital transformation.
The Pakistani side expressed keen interest in leveraging Dutch expertise in agri-tech, water management, and the digitisation of public services, according to the press release.
Muhammad Aurangzeb also held a detailed meeting with Axel van Trotsenburg, Senior Managing Director of the World Bank.
The Minister lauded the World Bank’s continued support for Pakistan’s development agenda and shared updates on the successful review of the IMF EFF programme and ongoing reforms under the Resilience and Sustainability Facility (RSF).
He also highlighted the launch of Pakistan’s National Green Taxonomy, developed with World Bank support, which aims to guide sustainable investments and is expected to be approved soon.
The minister welcomed the World Bank’s endorsement of the new 10-year Country Partnership Framework (CPF 2026–2035), which focuses on key areas including child stunting, learning poverty, climate resilience, fiscal space, decarbonisation, and private investment.
He reaffirmed Pakistan’s commitment to working closely with the Bank to deliver on these priorities and achieve lasting development impact.
In a separate meeting, with Alvaro Lario, President of the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), a specialised UN agency focused on rural development and food system transformation.
The two sides reviewed the long-standing collaboration between Pakistan and IFAD, which has seen the implementation of 29 projects to date, benefitting approximately 2.8 million rural households.
Additionally, the minister met with John W.H. Denton AO, Secretary-General of the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC).
The two discussed avenues for enhanced cooperation in trade facilitation, SME development, investment promotion, and the role of the ICC in supporting Pakistan’s economic transformation.
These bilateral interactions reflect Pakistan’s commitment to expanding international partnerships, promoting development finance, and advancing its economic reform and resilience agenda in alignment with global sustainable development goals, the statement added.
