Minister for Planning Development and Reforms, Ahsan Iqbal says Pakistan wants strong partnership with multilateral institutions to build regional connectivity projects as it holds key for peace and prosperity.

He was talking to IMF Director Jihad Azour on the sidelines of a high-level conference on Belt and Road Initiative in Beijing.

Ahsan Iqbal said through CPEC, Pakistan has been able to address the critical bottle necks of energy and infrastructure in its growth.

The IMF Director acknowledged efforts by Pakistan for promoting education, infrastructure improvement and poverty alleviation.

He highlighted the need to jointly work on areas for capacity enhancement of local human resource under the BRI initiative.

Meanwhile, addressing IMF's Conference on Macroeconomic and Financial Frameworks for Successful Implementation of the Belt and Road Initiative in Beijing, Ahsan Iqbal said that Pakistan is aligning its national regional and bilateral programs with China Pakistan Economic Corridor.

He said that the undermined economy of the world can only be overcome if we can create new demand in the world economy.

He said spirit behind Belt and Road initiative is to connect the dots by improving connectivity and open new markets.

He said that Pakistan has witnessed noteworthy progress in energy sector.  

Ahsan Iqbal said Pakistan's industrial production has increased considerably. In the current fiscal year, Pakistan has achieved 5.8% GDP growth rate whereas we were stuck at 3% average growth rate from 2008 to 2013.

He said beyond infrastructure, Pakistan is going to establish 7 special economic zones to promote industrial cooperation.

Pakistan has setup a parliamentary committee to carry out over sight of all Belt and Road and CPEC projects in order to ensure that all parties are on board and result in inclusive development. 

Ahsan Iqbal said there is a joint working group of both Pakistan and China that thoroughly examines every project for its financial viability and for its fitness to be in the portfolio. 

Ahsan Iqbal said Pakistan is also working on capacity building of our chambers so that we could build a more robust business to business partnership between the two countries.