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ISLAMABAD: Vice President, Asian Development Bank, Xiaoyu Zhao has said that ADB was encouraged by the progress made by Pakistan in its macro economic stability programme, which would further help in boosting economic assistance to the country.

He said this when a delegation of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) led by him called on President Asif Ali Zardari at the Presidency today.

He said that the ADB was part of Pakistan’s development programme and was committed to work with it to bring about positive changes for the benefit of the people of Pakistan.

The other members of the delegation Nianshan Zhang, Advisor to Vice President ADB, Juan Miranda, DG Central West Asia Department, Sean M. O’Sullivan, DDG, Central West Asia, Rune Stroem, Country Director and Saad Paracha, Program Officer, Pak Resident Mission were also present.

M. Salman Faruqi, Secretary General to the President, Sardar Asef Ahmed Ali, Deputy Chairman Planning Commission, Mrs. Hina Rabbani Khar, Minister of State for EAD, Shakil Durrani, Chairman WAPDA, Farrakh Qayyum, Secretary Economic Affairs Division, Shahid Rafi, Secretary Water and Power, Sibtain Fazl Haleem, Secretary Health, Farhatullah Babar, Spokesman of the President, Muhammad Shahzad Arbab, Additional Secretary and Zafar Hasan Raza, Joint Secretary Economic Affairs also participated in the meeting.

President Zardari thanked ADB Vice President for continued support of the bank by providing short term and medium term assistance to the country through its various programmes.

The President said that one of the areas which needed special attention and in which the Bank could be a great assistance was setting up of research centers for the optimum utilization of irrigation water and development of hybrid seed of cotton, rice and sugarcane.

The President said that the government of Pakistan was already engaged with China in this sector and that he planned to visit China every three months to monitor progress on the collaborative projects between the two countries in these areas.

The President also drew the attention of the ADB delegation towards the need for building agricultural storage capacity and oil storage capacity in Pakistan through public private partnership model.

In this way the private entrepreneurs, he added, will be encouraged to invest in building the storage capacity while the government would rent the storage capacity on mutually agreed terms.

The Vice President of the ADB showed keen interest in the idea and said that the bank’s team in Pakistan will give it a serious thought.

He said that there was distinct possibility of the increasing economic assistance to Pakistan due to the success it had achieved in the macro economic stability programme.

The President also suggested that the bank should also consider assistance in the development of a navigation project to connect Karachi with Kalabagh for cheap transportation of goods from the port in Karachi to the north.

Xiaoyu Zhao said that he looked forward to continued and enhanced cooperation with the government of Pakistan and expressed the confidence that Pakistan’s economy will grow faster in the days to come.