A delegation of the Open Government Partnership initiative led by Mr. Florencio Butch Abad, the Founding Minister of OGP, called on the Federal Minister for Finance Senator Mohammad Ishaq Dar here on Wednesday.
Finance Minister welcomed the guests and said that their visit to the country is an affirmation of the progress being made in Pakistan towards transparency, accountability, participation and technological innovation. He said that Pakistan has come a long way in improving governmental processes since the present government assumed responsibilities four years ago. Since 2013, “We have joined OECD Multilateral Convention on Mutual Administrative Assistance in Tax Matters in September last year and it is my sincerest effort that we also join the OECD convention on anti-bribery soon”, the Minister said.
Mr. Abad said that Pakistan’s economic and financial achievements are being internationally acknowledged. He said that the delegation’s current visit to Pakistan will help in the co-creation of a National Action Plan with civil society. He also said that during the current visit they have realized that Pakistan has made considerable progress in the fiscal openness initiative which is also one of the objectives of the Open Government Partnership. He said that reforms being introduced in financial and administrative matters in Pakistan was praiseworthy and the partnership of government of Pakistan with OGP will prove a historic event in South Asia.
The Minister informed Mr. Abad that continuing on the tradition of the last three years, the government will launch the next Tax Directory in the current week. The members of the delegation appreciated the bold step taken by the Finance Minister in this regard and hoped that the good tradition set by the present government will continue in future also.
Senior officials of the Ministry of Finance attended the meeting.
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