KARACHI: Pakistani Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb has met with his Saudi counterpart Mohammed Al-Jadaan in Washington DC and briefed him on the privatization of the state-owned Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) and airports as Islamabad seeks “strategic investments,” the Pakistani finance ministry said on Thursday.
The meeting between Aurangzeb and the Saudi finance minister took place on the sidelines of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF) annual meetings, where he has held a number of engagements with finance officials and business leaders from various countries and institutions.
The cash-strapped South Asian nation is looking to privatize the debt-ridden PIA to raise funds and reform loss-making, state-owned enterprises as envisaged under a $7 billion International Monetary Fund (IMF) program.
The Saudi and Pakistani finance chiefs reviewed their growing trade and investment relations, with Aurangzeb reaffirming Pakistan’s commitment to economic reforms under the IMF program to ensure long-term macroeconomic stability.
“He apprised his Saudi counterpart of the ongoing privatization process of Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) and key airports, underscoring the Government’s resolve to attract strategic investments through transparency and efficiency,” the Pakistani finance ministry said in a statement.
