ISLAMABAD, Dec 8 (APP): Angel Gurria, Secretary General of Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), Thursday invited Pakistan to join OECD Development Centre and offered OECD’s technical help for developing Pakistan’s National Action Plan for OGP (Open Government Partnership).
Angel Gurria stated this during a bilateral meeting with Finance Minister Muhammad Ishaq Dar in Paris, said a message received here.
The Finance Minister informed the Secretary General that the OECD Multilateral Convention on Mutual Administrative Assistance in Tax Matters, which he signed on 14th September, 2016 in Paris had been ratified by the Pakistani Cabinet.
He said the Pakistan Cabinet also authorized the Finance Minister for processing Pakistan’s membership to Open Government Partnership (OGP). Accordingly, he handed over Pakistani’s Letter of Intent for joining OGP to French President Fran‡ois Hollande in the OGP Global Summit held in Paris.
The OECD Secretary General welcomed Pakistan’s membership to the OGP which coupled with Pakistan’s active engagement with OECD clearly demonstrated Pakistan’s commitment to join the international mainstream fora to adopt their best practices and to a transparent and accountable governing structure.
Senator Ishaq Dar shared with the OECD Secretary General that Pakistan was currently working to meet the OECD criteria and parameters to formally apply for accession to OECD Convention on Combating Bribery.
Earlier, the Finance Minister met Sir Eric Pickels, Head of UK Anti-Corruption, on the sidelines of OGP Summit. Sir Eric congratulated the Finance Minister on joining the OGP.
The minister informed Sir Eric that Pakistan was the first country to issue a tax directory of parliamentarians and the fourth country to publish General Tax Directory of tax-payers for the three consecutive years.
They also discussed matters relating to transparency and good governance.
Denis Simonneau, the Head of European and International Relations, ENGIE, a leading French energy company also called on the Finance Minister at the Embassy of Pakistan in Paris and expressed interest of his corporate group to cooperate in the field of energy in Pakistan.
Secretary Economic Affairs Division, Tariq Bajwa, Ambassador of Pakistan to France Moin ul Haque also attended the meetings.
