ABU DHABI // Pakistan is expected to ask for about US$5 billion (Dh18.4bn) in urgent development aid from donors, including the UAE, at a meeting concluding today in the capital. The meeting of experts from the Friends of Democratic Pakistan (FODP), a group of donors that was formed in September to help Pakistan navigate out of its economic and security crises, began in Abu Dhabi yesterday.
One of Pakistan's most senior diplomats told the meeting that without the aid, the country risked falling into a vicious cycle of poverty and violence that threatened "the very underpinnings of our democracy". "Without security there can be no substantial economic growth and social development," said Salman Faruqui, secretary general to the president of Pakistan, Asif Ali Zardari. "Without economic growth and development, our security challenge will grow."
Dr Anwar Gargash, the UAE Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, said peace in Pakistan was crucial to the region. "The larger goal is regional stability and security, and Pakistan is an important foundation stone for this process," he told the assembled experts from the 25 FODP member countries and development organisations. "We in the UAE are very aware of the importance of this process and of being able to produce tangible and operational results. Part and parcel of this is a world and region that wants to see stability, peace and development."
Pakistan has been affected by both the global economic crisis, which has caused its exports to plummet, and deteriorating internal security. Mr Faruqui refused to specify the size of the aid package Pakistan was seeking but said it was less than the $30bn over 10 years cited in Pakistani news reports. "Immediately we are asking for a smaller amount that we can use over two years, in addition to all the other assistance we are already getting," he said on the sidelines of the meeting, adding that he was confident the FODP would provide the funds.
"We are trying to fill in the gaps in infrastructure, institutions, trade and finance. We need help." Pakistan was likely to ask for about $5 billion in aid to be spent over two years, said Yusupha Crookes, the World Bank's Pakistan director. "It's an awful lot and will go a long way to address legitimate development needs," Mr Crookes said. "What the country has outlined in its poverty reduction plan makes sense and we support it."
However, a western diplomat at the meeting said there was confusion over how much aid Pakistan wanted. "It's confused. There's no end to what the Pakistanis need. It's a bottomless pit," he said, adding that private investors were unlikely to put money into the country while the lack of security persisted. The UAE, which Mr Faruqui described as a "brotherly country", already provides financial aid to Pakistan and is helping to build infrastructure there, including housing and health and education facilities, according to Ahmed al Musalli, director of the Ministry for Foreign Affairs' Asian department.
Mr Faruqui said the urgent assistance agreed on at the Abu Dhabi meeting would be used in five broad areas: development, security, energy, institution-building and trade and finance. The meeting in Abu Dhabi is also to prepare for an FODP summit in Tokyo on April 17, where Pakistan hopes it will receive a strong statement of political support. Mr Faruqui said such a statement was vital to reassure the Pakistani population that the world would not abandon it to a murky fate.
"These meetings should be detailed, for what happens in Tokyo will reflect what goes on here," Dr Gargash told the group. The FODP intends to set up a secretariat in the Pakistani capital, Islamabad, establish working groups with different countries and found a Pakistan Development Trust Fund under the auspices of the World Bank. The UAE and Saudi Arabia are the only Arab countries in the FODP, which also includes the UK, the US, China and Japan as well as the Islamic Development Bank and the Asian Development Bank.
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