Minister of State for International Development,Desmond Swayne visit to Pakistan

Lahore: Desmond Swayne MP, Minister of State for International Development, reflects on his 1^st visit to Pakistan. During an intensive three-day programme, on his first visit to Pakistan, Desmond Swayne the Minister of State for International Development, met with Finance Minister Ishaq Dar, Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif, senior officials and leading figures from the business community and civil society.

Discussions focused on the prospects for faster economic growth, increasing the tax base and tackling poverty, and how the UK can best support the Pakistan Government’s ambitious commitments.

The UK is working with Pakistan across many areas, but with a particular focus on education, where more than 6.3 million primary school children have benefitted from the UK’s Department for International Development.

The Minister of State spent time understanding the economic growth strategies of the federal and provincial governments. The UK is looking to do more to support inclusive economic growth, for example by expanding access to financial services, supporting small and medium enterprises, and delivering more skills trainings in Punjab and other provinces. Since the UK elections earlier this year, Ministers in the Department of International Development have placed a particular priority on improving educational and economic opportunities for girls and women.

After his three-day visit, Mr Swayne said “It was a pleasure to be in Pakistan on my first visit to this vibrant, diverse country. We have more than one million people of Pakistani descent living in the UK. We are bound together through business, family, and friendship. “I have now seen for myself how Pakistan has taken a number of important steps for stability and growth of the economy.  I welcome the focus on the big reforms – on energy, on privatisation, on reducing the public debt. I welcome the important focus on better tax collection. These tax reforms are essential for the country’s future prosperity. They will help raise the revenues needed to invest in better infrastructure and better services such as education and health.

“The government has made a big commitment to increasing the tax-to-GDP ratio. It is taking steps to achieve this by abolishing some special tax exemptions, raising general sales tax and publishing tax directories to name and shame wealthy people who are paying little or no tax. But there is still much more to do.
A concerted effort on enforcement is needed to widen the income tax net so more of the wealthy pay their fair share.“Tax reform is a top priority for UK development assistance.

DFID is supporting a partnership between Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs and the Federal Board of Revenue on some of these reforms. DFID stands ready to provide more technical experts and share lessons.“I also met with business leaders to discuss the prospects for faster growth. The private sector is the main engine for driving growth, creating jobs, raising incomes and reducing poverty. I spoke to business leaders on what the Government can do to promote this by reducing barriers and attracting more investment; and how the UK can further support good policy advice and programmes through the UK DFID and the work of the British High Commission in Pakistan.

“In my department, DFID, we are ramping up our efforts to support economic development, supporting more skills training, more financial inclusion, and more investment in small businesses. I was delighted to meet so many committed and dynamic people with whom we can work in partnership.”

Pakistan is now one of the UK’s top priorities for development investment. As well as tackling the education emergency, DFID works to help prevent thousands of women dying in childbirth by funding skilled midwives, nurses, or doctors for one million childbirths; providing support to nutrition programmes, providing job skills training to tens of thousands of the poorest people; and supporting the National Income Support Programme giving women in deprived households small monthly cash grants to purchase essentials, such as food and medicine.