Federal Minister for Finance and Revenue, Senator Muhammad Aurangzeb, held a productive meeting with Mr. Shohei Hara, Senior Vice President of the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), on the sidelines of the World Bank–IMF Spring Meetings in Washington, D.C.
The Finance Minister welcomed JICA’s resumption of its lending portfolio with Pakistan after a prolonged pause and appreciated the identification of a water supply scheme in Faisalabad, Punjab, as the first project under the resumed Yen loan portfolio. He noted that the grants programme is progressing well, with previously long-standing bottlenecks having been largely resolved in coordination with the Pakistani side.
The Finance Minister expressed concern that Pakistan’s net disbursement from JICA remains negative. Both sides agreed on the need to reverse this trend through the resumption of active lending.
He expressed keen interest in leveraging Japan’s extensive experience in the social sector, particularly in health and education, and flagged interest in exploring financing arrangements by combining JICA financing with contributions from other sources to maximize development impact in line with the Government’s broader development agenda.
The Finance Minister assured JICA of full support in resolving issues of manpower shortages at the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS) and security scanners at Karachi Port, where one unit remains non-operational due to maintenance and spare parts constraints.
He also thanked JICA for its support to Pakistan’s ongoing peace efforts.
