Cash-strapped Pakistan has constituted a negotiation committee to finalise a deal with the UAE for handing over its Karachi port terminals as it seeks to raise an emergency fund amid uncertainty over the revival of a stalled loan from the IMF. Finance Minister Ishaq Dar chaired the meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Inter-Governmental Commercial Transactions.
The meeting decided to set up a committee to negotiate a commercial agreement between the Karachi Port Trust (KPT) and the UAE government. The negotiation committee set up to finalise a framework agreement will be headed by the Minister for Maritime Affairs, Faisal Sabzwari. The committee members include the additional secretaries of Finance and Foreign Affairs, the special assistant to PM Jehanzeb Khan, the Chairman of the Karachi Port Terminal (KPT), and the general managers of the KPT.
The UAE government had shown interest in acquiring the Karachi port terminals that were under the administrative control of the Pakistan International Containers Terminals (PICT) last year. This move to constitute the negotiation committee may lead to the first intergovernmental transaction under a law enacted last year to raise emergency funds.
Last year, Pakistan’s coalition government enacted the Intergovernmental Commercial Transactions Act, aimed at selling state assets on a fast-track basis to raise funds. The country is in dire need of additional money amid uncertainty over the revival of the USD 6.5 billion deal with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) which was initially signed in 2019 and is set to expire by the end of this month.
