Pakistan opts out of democracy summit in US, IMF yet to release loan

Pakistan has decided to not participate in the democracy summit taking place in Washington this week, opting instead to engage with the US on a bilateral basis to encourage democratic values. The virtual summit, led by the United States, begins Tyesda . China and Turkiye have not been invited to the summit. The issue of Pakistan’s participation in the Second Summit for Democracy in the US had been under discussion for some time, particularly because it could potentially upset its “all-weather friend” China, which had not been invited to the summit. The decision had been a challenging one, with Pakistan weighing the benefits of participation against the potential risks to its diplomatic relationships.China would be closely monitoring these overtures as the US has already annoyed Beijing by inviting Taiwan, China’s longstanding nemesis. According to the Dawn report, the decision to keep Turkiye out of the summit was another cause of concern for Pakistan.In a statement, the Foreign Office said Pakistan values its friendship with the United States. Explaining the rationale for not taking a part in the summit, the FO said Pakistan had not been part of the summit process that commenced in 2021 and required countries to make certain national commitments.

Meanwhile, The International Monetary Fund (IMF) wants external financing commitments fulfilled from friendly countries before it releases bailout funds, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said on Tuesday. As per Geo News report, The staff level agreement (SLA) between Pakistan and the IMF will only be signed when the Kingdom of Saudi Araia and UAE confirm financial support. Almost 46 days have passed since the IMF and Pakistan concluded review talks in Islamabad on February 9. The lender has been negotiating with Islamabad to resume $1.1 billion in funding held since November, which is part of a $6.5 billion bailout agreed in 2019. The funding is very critical for Pakistan to unlock other external financing avenues to avert a default on its obligations with its central bank reserves falling to as low as to cover hardly four weeks of imports.