Wolfowitz Completes First Trip to Pakistan: World Bank Lending to Reach $1.5 billion per Year

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Shahzad Sharjeel (051) 2279641-6
Ssharjeel@worldbank.org  

Islamabad, August 17 - World Bank President Paul Wolfowitz completed his first visit to Pakistan as head of the global development institution on Wednesday with a commitment to raise the Bank’s overall lending to Pakistan to US $ 1.5 billion a year over the next three years.

This will comprise a mix of IBRD loans and IDA credits, and is up from the $ 950 million worth of new assistance approved in the last year.

Pledging the Bank’s strong commitment to support Pakistan, Wolfowitz said: “There are 150 million reasons right here – the people of this country – why we want to see Pakistan develop. Pakistan is an important country in an important region, and it must realize its full potential.”

During his four-day visit to the country – the first stop in a three-nation visit to South Asia – Wolfowitz held substantive discussions with President Pervez Musharraf, Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz, Dr Salman Shah, Advisor to the Prime Minister on Finance, and other senior ministers and officials.

Wolfowitz also met with leaders of civil society, parliamentarians, editors of leading publications, representatives of youth, and members of a village community in Punjab who had banded together to improve their living conditions and livelihoods with support from the Bank-funded Pakistan Poverty Alleviation Fund.

Wolfowitz, who was accompanied by Praful Patel, World Bank vice-president for South Asia, and Abid Hasan, World Bank Acting Country Director for Pakistan, discussed with Pakistani development officials Pakistan’s development priorities, including the need to:

• Sustain the strong growth it recorded in the last year, and ensure that the benefits of this growth are spread equitably;
• Better manage its water resources;
• Improve its education, gender and health outcomes;
• Continue governance reforms;
• Invest in and better manage its infrastructure, including the possibility of an immediate focus on the Lahore-Karachi transportation corridor.

"I came here to get to know Pakistan’s top leadership, understand its development context and challenges, meet and learn from its people, and familiarize myself with the World Bank’s work in the country," said Wolfowitz. "I have learned a lot already in this short time. The World Bank’s challenge is to help Pakistan create the conditions which will enable its people to give their children a better future."

Noting the important governance reforms and fiscal correctives Pakistan had adopted in recent years, Wolfowitz said the country was moving in a positive direction economically. This was a moment that must be seized to address its underlying development problems.

He laid special stress on empowering women. "One of the ladies of Dhok Tabarak village told me that men and women are like the two wheels of a car. If one wheel moves faster than the other, the car won’t function."

On Wednesday, Wolfowitz visited Lahore and met the Punjab chief minister, Chaudhary Pervaiz Elahi, and discuss the province’s education sector reforms. He left for India after this visit. He will conclude his South Asia visit in Bangladesh.