Pakistan and the Asian Development Bank have agreed on a joint export accelerator programme to boost Pakistan's exports.

The agreement was reached during a meeting between Minister for Planning, Development and Special Initiatives Ahsan Iqbal and Asian Development Bank President Masato Kanda on the sidelines of the CAREC Ministerial Conference in Mongolia today.

Ahsan Iqbal urged the Asian Development Bank to establish a dedicated ADB financing window for climate adaptation and resilience in highly vulnerable countries beyond existing country allocations.

He said global financial institutions must evolve beyond the traditional post-war reconstruction framework to address emerging challenges, particularly climate vulnerability.

Ahsan Iqbal stressed the strategic importance of the ML-1 railway project and conveyed Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif's message to expedite procedural formalities so that groundbreaking could take place at the earliest.

The ADB President assured of ADB's commitment to ML-1 as a flagship project and said it would extend all possible support to move it forward.

Ahsan Iqbal further stressed the need to strengthen regional connectivity through integrated rail and road networks, particularly linking Turkmenistan, Afghanistan, and Pakistan, which could provide CAREC countries greater access to Gwadar Port.