H.E. Ms. Lis Rosenholm, Ambassador of Denmark to Pakistan calls on Federal Minister for Economic Affairs, Sardar Ayaz Sadiq in his office today. Federal Minster for Economic Affairs, Sardar Ayaz Sadiq warmly welcomed the Ambassador of Denmark to Pakistan, H.E. Ms. Lis Rosenholm in Ministry of Economic Affairs to discuss Inter-Governmental Framework Agreement between the Government of Kingdom of Denmark and Government of Islamic Republic of Pakistan. Matters of mutual interest were discussed in the meeting. The Honorable Minister Ayaz Sadiq apprised the Ambassador that Pakistan and Denmark enjoy a friendly and cordial relationship and a lot potential exist to enhance the relationship between both nations. He further stated that the efforts to revive bilateral economic and development cooperation between the two countries paid off with Denmark agreeing to provide on-budget support to the Government of Pakistan through this Inter-Governmental Framework Agreement and the focus on Waste Water Treatment Projects in Faisalabad and Lahore is immensely appreciated. The Minister further apprised the Ambassador about the projects already in pipeline by the support of Development Partners including AFD, ADB and JICA on the Water Waste Management and expressed his desire to conduct a joint meeting with the involved development partners to discuss feasibility studies and roles of each project to avoid overlapping of the projects. The Ambassador highlighted that the Framework Agreement is a Strategic Agreement that would further open numerous possibilities to identify more areas of cooperation. She put special focus on collaboration in areas including climate change, water waste management, renewable energy and green infrastructure. This Framework Agreement offers the Danida Sustainable Infrastructure Finance (DSIF) Facility by the Danish side which would provide interest free but tied loans up to but not limited to € 100 million aimed at transfer of technology and knowhow. The interest free loans after signing this framework agreement will have a 35% concessionally element covering the interest on the loan, export premium, bank margin and an upfront grant if these expenses do not arrive at 35% of the contract amount. The loans would have a 10-year maturity period generally and 15 years can be accommodated in exceptional cases. The Minister highly appreciated the idea and further discussed the potential sectors in which collaboration is needed. He also highlighted the current flood situation of the country and expressed the need of collaboration to strengthen flood resilience. He further stressed on the exchange of trade delegations that can help in promoting and enhancing economic and trade relations. Moreover, he stressed to have joint ventures with Danish Companies for increasing production and export of dairy products with the special focus on cheese production. The meeting was ended with a vote of thanks from both sides. Both sides agreed to hold the meeting of the Framework Agreement in coming week. ***
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