ISLAMABAD: Pakistani Deputy PM Ishaq Dar will visit today to UK on a five-day official visit to strengthen bilateral relation between the two counties.
During his visit to UK, Dar will hold meetings with top British officials and engage with the Pakistani expatriate community, according to the Foreign Office.
The visit, which runs from September 4-8, 2024, aims to strengthen the trade, defense, and education ties between Pakistan and the UK, both of which have a significant Pakistani diaspora.
Pakistani Deputy PM will also meet discussions with UK Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner and the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth, and Development Affairs, David Lammy. He will also meet with UK parliamentarians and representatives of the British-Pakistani community.
Pakistan is seeking to attract foreign investment and negotiate loan rollovers as it works to address its external financial needs and secure approval for a $7 billion International Monetary Fund (IMF) bailout loan.
Pakistan and the IMF reached an agreement for the 37-month loan program in July.
The IMF has stated that the program is subject to approval from its executive board and the timely confirmation of necessary financing assurances from Pakistan’s development and bilateral partners.
The government of Pakistan had received just $426 million from foreign lenders in July, and an official report on the disbursement of foreign loans confirmed that the administration was unable to acquire $9 billion in loan rollovers last month.
In its monthly disbursement report, the Ministry of Economic Affairs disclosed that no loans were obtained from bilateral creditors or international commercial banks—resources that the government is desperately attempting to access in order to obtain the foreign cash it needs to survive.
