Course correction: PM Shehbaz urges rethink of global financial architecture

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Friday said the world should “course correct” by rethinking the global financial architecture, urging everyone to rise to face the challenge hand in hand in a spirit of solidarity and compassion.

“The world should use [the] present economic and climate turbulence as an opportunity for course correction,” PM Shehbaz said on Twitter. He was in Paris to attend the Summit for a New Global Financing Pact.

The two-day New Global Financial Pact Summit, hosted by French President Emmanuel Macron, seeks to improve the lending system for developing countries.

It comes amid growing recognition of the scale of the financial challenges ahead, with warnings that the world’s ability to curb global warming at tolerable levels relies on a massive increase in clean energy investment in developing nations.

He took to Twitter on Friday to elaborate on his stance regarding the “exogenous shocks that created a polycrisis for developing countries like Pakistan”.

During the interaction at the summit, PM Shehbaz drew world leaders’ attention to these shocks which resulted in stalled growth, supply chain disruption which resulted in commodity prices soaring, extreme weather events which precipitated unprecedented floods, and the back-breaking inflation, he stated.

“The international community should deliver on the commitments they made at COP27 in Sharm al-Sheikh,” the prime minister said.

The Sharm el-Sheikh Climate Change Conference (COP 27) brought together more than 45,000 participants towards the end of 2022 to take action towards achieving climate goals agreed upon under the Paris Agreement and the Convention.

According to the premier, the community should come forward and deliver on the operationalisation of the Loss and Damage Fund which would provide grants that do not increase the indebtedness of developing countries.

PM holds first in-person meeting with Chinese premier

Later in the day, PM Shehbaz met Chinese Premier Li Qiang and held an in-depth discussion on the bilateral relationship shared by Pakistan and China.

According to a statement issued by the Prime Minister’s Office, it was the first in-person meeting between the two leaders since Premier Li assumed office in March this year.

“During the meeting, the two leaders held an in-depth discussion on the entire gamut of the bilateral relationship including the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) as well as bilateral economic cooperation,” said.

The PMO said PM Shehbaz reiterated support for China on its core issues and appreciated the neighbouring country’s “unflinching support” to Pakistan’s territorial integrity, sovereignty, and socio-economic development.

“He noted that China’s firm opposition to holding any G20 meeting in the disputed region of Jammu and Kashmir was a vivid reflection of China’s principled stance for upholding international law and UN resolutions,” the statement added.

PM Shehbaz later said his meeting with the Chinese premier was “true to the spirit of the excellent bilateral relations between our two countries”.

“While expressing satisfaction with the present state of all-encompassing bilateral ties, we agreed to continue strengthening and expanding All-Weather Strategic Cooperative Partnership. We also decided to celebrate the Decade of CPEC being a transformative project for Pakistan’s socio-economic development.

“I thanked Premier Li for China’s continued diplomatic and economic support to Pakistan, especially Beijing’s principled stance pertaining to holding of G20 tourism meeting in IIOJK.,” he tweeted.

Shehbaz discusses new avenues of collaboration with IsDB president

PM Shehbaz also met the Islamic Development Bank (IsDB) President Muhammad Al Jasser, on the sidelines of the summit.

According to a PM office press release, the PM discussed new avenues for collaboration and the long-standing cooperation and engagement between Pakistan and IsDB, further taking stock of the progress on various projects.

The prime minister lauded IsDB’s USD 4.2 billion investment at the international conference on Climate Resilient Pakistan held in Geneva on January 9 in support of Pakistan’s post-flood recovery.

He also acknowledged Jasser’s personal contribution and leadership role in galvanising the huge volume of financial support.

“IsDB’s beneficial partnership with Pakistan will go a long way in helping the people of the country to rebuild their lives and livelihoods and also support the sustainable development objectives of the government,” the prime minister stated.

He also briefed Jasser on the recently formed Special Investment Facilitation Council which streamlines foreign investments in the country.

Macron says ‘complete consensus’ on reforming global financial bodies

Meanwhile, summing up the summit, French President Emmanuel Macron said there was a “complete consensus” on reforming global financial bodies, adding that the agreement was reached was to make the reforms “more efficient, fairer and better suited to the world of today”.

Other world leaders also lent their support to the idea of reforming the World Bank and IMF, the so-called Bretton Woods institutions formed after World War II which are dominated by the West.

“We need to say that very clearly: the World Bank is not meeting the world’s expectations and we need to say this,” Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva told a closing session of the summit.

“The IMF is not meeting the world’s expectations,” he iterated.

He said the IMF had “very irresponsibly made Argentina a huge loan and we don’t know what the Argentinian president did with that money and today Argentina is in a very different situation because it doesn’t have enough dollars to pay back the IMF.”

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz also backed reforms to “how these banks are managed and the framework for their activities”.

PM meets expatriates

The prime minister also met overseas Pakistanis during his trip and urged them to play their role in exposing propaganda against the nation in their respective countries.

The prime minister, in an interaction with the representatives of the Pakistani community in France as well as the Pakistan Business Forum, said expatriates were the nation’s ambassadors and an asset, adding that their services for the country’s development were laudable.

He told the community members that through its tough economic decisions, the incumbent government saved the country from default.

“During the last four years, the economy was pushed to the verge of collapse, and unemployment and inflation were at their peaks,” he added.

The prime minister said that having inherited an isolated Pakistan on the diplomatic fronts, his government made constant efforts throughout the year to revive foreign relations.

He said the recently unveiled Economic Revival Plan would prove to be a milestone to restore Pakistan’s economic position and that a Special Investment Facilitation Council had been established to remove impediments to investment.

PM Shehbaz said that only economic sovereignty and stability could guarantee a safe future for Pakistan.

The representatives of the overseas Pakistanis in France also presented a bouquet to the prime minister.

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Additional reporting by Tahir Sherani

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