WASHINGTON: Finance Minister Ishaq Dar met with Annette Dixon, Vice President of the World Bank (WB) for South Asian region in Washington today.

During the meeting, the WB agreed in principle to finance the construction of the Peshawar-Kabul highway to improve regional connectivity.

Dar apprised the WB representative that the government had established a microfinance company to extend microfinance facilities to the poorer segments of society.

He added that the government was undertaking energy sector projects to overcome load-shedding, a target they aim to achieve by early 2018.

While shedding light on the progress of various power projects in the country, the minister said around 25,000MW projects had been identified and were at different stages of implementation.

He insisted that the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) led government was giving top priority to the private sector with regards to the implementation of projects related to the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC).

WB’s Dixon appreciated the initiatives being taken by the Pakistani government to ensure sustainable economic development.