US to release $750m in a few weeks: Shaikh

Finance Minister describes strategic dialogue with US as a shift towards sustainable development-led policies.

ISLAMABAD: After providing $100 million of the outstanding $870 million under the Coalition Support Fund (CSF), the Obama administration will release the remaining $750 million over the next few weeks, Finance Minister Dr Abdul Hafeez Shaikh said, while terming the recently held strategic dialogue as a shift from war-oriented strategies to sustainable development-led policies.

“Out of the $850 million due under the CSF, the US has released $100 million to Pakistan and will be releasing the remaining $750 million in the coming weeks,” Shaikh told APP in an interview, a first-ever media interaction on his return after attending the strategic dialogue in Washington.

He said the strategic dialogue was a top level discussion as the senior leadership of both countries met to deliberate upon as many as 13 different subjects of cooperation adding that both sides also discussed Pakistan-US and regional security issues, development and prosperity of the people, access to US markets and US investment in Pakistan.

He said the strategic dialogue was total in variation from the previous dialogues which were usually war-oriented. “We are not developing relations on past patterns, where as soon as the war ends the relations also end,” the minister said, adding that the focus was now on developing business-to-business and people-to-people relations to sustain cooperation between the two countries to lead people to prosperity.

Shaikh said both sides also fixed priorities for spending $7.5 billion under the Kerry-Lugar bill with a special focus on energy, food security, private sector and human development. He said that a $300 million enterprise fund was also established to encourage American businessmen to enhance their economic activities in Pakistan.

Energy

He said that out of $7.5 billion, $2 billion would be spent on the energy sector to overcome the crisis and to help the country’s industry grow and penetrate into the commodity market which has been providing ample opportunities to earn foreign exchange for Pakistan.  He said special attention would also be given for the development of dams and improvement in the irrigation system of the country besides improving the efficiency of electricity plants.

Flood victims

The minister said 1.6 million flood-affected people would be provided Rs 100,000 each under the Watan Card scheme, which would be in addition to the relief provided by the government under the relief and rescue operation. “We have paid Rs160 billion to the flood victims,” he said.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 30^th, 2010.