Pakistan, IsDB advance USD5.6bn cooperation

Business Recorder reported that Federal Minister for Economic Affairs Ahad Khan Cheema met Dr Muhammad Sulaiman Al Jasser, chairman of the Islamic Development Bank Group, in Bangkok. The talks, held during the 2026 World Bank Group and IMF Annual Meetings, centred on accelerating work under Pakistan's Member Country Partnership Strategy for 2026 to 2030. That strategy foresees roughly USD5.6 billion of indicative financing from the IsDB Group, and Cheema also congratulated Al Jasser on winning a second five-year term.

Cheema urged that the indicative envelope be turned into a practical list of well-prepared schemes, with firm dates for approvals, fund releases and implementation. He praised IsDB financing of USD475 million for the M-6 Sukkur-Hyderabad Motorway and welcomed the recent USD100 million approval for Phase V of the polio eradication programme. He also sought stronger IsDB support for the ML-1 Railway Upgradation Project, alongside closer work with the Asian Development Bank.

Cheema proposed a joined-up approach across the IsDB Group, including ITFC, ICD, ICIEC and the IsDB Institute, to widen export finance and infrastructure work. He added that ITFC had mobilised more than USD1 billion of trade financing in FY2025-26, and he asked for more competitive terms on future facilities, given Pakistan's stronger economic and credit position. Al Jasser praised the government's development vision and pledged the group's commitment to Pakistan's priorities, while both sides stressed a results-focused partnership built on transformational investment.