National News

ISLAMABAD, Jul 26 (APP): A delegation of the Open
Government Partnership (OGP) initiative led by
Florencio Butch Abad, the Founding Minister of OGP
called on Federal Minister for Finance Senator
Mohammad Ishaq Dar here on Wednesday.
The Finance Minister welcomed the guests and said that
their visit to the country is an affirmation of the
progress being made in Pakistan towards transparency,
accountability, participation and technological
innovation.
He said that Pakistan has come a long way in
improving governmental processes since the present
government assumed responsibilities four years ago.
Since 2013, “We have joined OECD Multilateral
Convention on Mutual Administrative Assistance in Tax
Matters in September last year and it is my sincerest
effort that we also join the OECD convention on anti-
bribery soon”, the minister said.
Abad said that Pakistan’s economic and financial
achievements are being internationally acknowledged.
He said that the delegation’s current visit to
Pakistan will help in the co-creation of a National
Action Plan with civil society.
He also said that during the current visit they
have realized that Pakistan has made considerable
progress in the fiscal openness initiative which is also
one of the objectives of the Open Government
Partnership.
He said that reforms being introduced in financial
and administrative matters in Pakistan was praiseworthy
and the partnership of government of Pakistan with OGP
will prove a historic event in South Asia.
The Minister informed Mr. Abad that continuing on
the tradition of the last three years, the government
will launch the next Tax Directory in the current week.
The members of the delegation appreciated the bold
step taken by the Finance Minister in this regard and
hoped that the good tradition set by the present
government will continue in future also.
Senior officials of the Ministry of Finance
attended the meeting.