The US has expressed willingness to support the construction of Diamer-Bhasha Dam and USAID would be ready to finance the feasibility study. This was stated by US ambassador Richard Olson here on Wednesday during a call on meeting with Finance Minister Senator Ishaq Dar. The Finance Minister said that Pakistan welcomes the interest shown by the United States Congress for its support in carrying out feasibility studies for Pakistan”s flagship storage project Diamer-Bhasha Dam.
Ambassador Olson informed the Finance Minister that the USAID would be ready to finance the feasibility studies for the construction of Diamer-Bhasha Dam. The United States, Ambassador Olson said, would support the construction of the project so that donors and international financial institutions can get comfort. Ambassador Olson while discussing the recently concluded programme with the IMF termed it as good and said that “US supports the programme”.
Dilating on the details of the progress made so far with IMF Senator Ishaq Dar termed them as positive and said that the only pending issue that needs to be resolved were the size and tranches of the loan. During the meeting the issue of Bilateral Investment Treaty (BIT) between the two countries also came under discussion. The Finance Minister said that he intends to obtain input from all stakeholders of Pakistan.
The forthcoming visit of Secretary of State John Kerry also came up for discussions. The US Ambassador informed the Finance Minister that the US Secretary of State was looking forward to meet him and discuss current bilateral economic issues. The Finance Minister said that Pakistan was looking forward to his visit and expressed hope that meetings with the US Secretary of State would be productive and mutually beneficial.-PR
