Pakistan Sunday welcomed the US decision to waive sanctions imposed on Pakistan and India after the two South Asian rivals staged tit-for-tat nuclear weapons tests in 1998.
"This is a positive move and I think we appreciate it very much," Finance Minister Shaukat Aziz said in an interview with CNN.
In waiving the sanctions on Saturday, US President George W. Bush said their continued presence "would not be in the national security interests of the United States."
India and Pakistan had been lobbying hard for the lifting of the measures, which restricted military sales, financial and economic assistance.
Both sides are expected to play a key role in a war on terrorism declared by the United States in the aftermath of the September 11 terrorist attacks on New York and Washington that left more than 6,800 people dead or missing.
However, Aziz insisted that the sanctions waiver should not be seen as a reward for Pakistan's support for possible US military strikes on Afghanistan, where the ruling Taliban regime has rejected repeated US demands to hand over Osama bin Laden -- suspected to be the mastermind behind the terror attacks.
"There is no question of a payback. This is just a reflection of a better understanding of our views," he said.
Pakistan's economy has only recently been pulled back from the brink of bankruptcy by tough economic reforms launched by the military government of Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf, but is still in dire need of international assistance.
"What this means is that the United States can now support us very directly in multi-national institutions like the International Monetary Fund, Asian Development Bank and the World Bank," Aziz said.
The move also opens the door to US companies looking to invest in Pakistan's textile and oil and gas sectors, and reopens connections with the US Exim Bank.
"In terms of buying commercial aircraft, machinery ... etc, Pakistani entrepreneurs can now look to the US as a source of supply. This would create investment here, create jobs and help the common man," Aziz said.
Pakistan has more than 30 billion dollars in external debt and Islamabad is expected to sign an agreement here this week on rescheduling 600 million dollars of US loans.
The military-led government last month successfully completed a 596-million-dollar IMF standby facility and is now hoping for a much larger package amounting to some 2.5 billion dollars.
UN Development Programme country chief Onder Ucer said Friday donors and financial institutions had expressed their "goodwill" ahead of an International Monetary Fund (IMF) meeting next week to discuss the proposed Poverty Reduction and Growth Facility for Pakistan.
As a reult of government reforms, Aziz said Pakistan's macro-economic indicators had improved considerably.
"But this process takes time and restructuring our debt, lifting sanctions and other measures like this will help us achieve our objectives," he added.
Pakistan first faced US sanctions under the Symington amendment to the Foreign Assistance Act in 1961 due to concerns over its nuclear program. Most restrictions were later lifted by Congress.
Then, in 1990, all US military and economic aid to Pakistan was suspended under the Pressler amendment which required the president to annually certify that Islamabad did "not possess a nuclear explosive device."
A separate set of measures to punish Musharraf for overthrowing the elected government of Nawaz Sharif in a military coup in October 1999 will only be lifted when democracy is restored.
"We hope in time all sanctions will be removed," Aziz said.
The finance minister also warned that Pakistan was facing a major economic challenge in the form of hundreds of thousands of Afghan refugees fleeing to its border because of the US military threat.
"The refugee situation does put a financial burden on Pakistan and we are looking to the world community to help us to share this burden," Aziz said. |
