Pakistan, Germany explore new avenues for economic, academic cooperation

Ambassador of the Federal Republic of Germany to Pakistan, H.E. Ms. Ina Lepel, called on Federal Minister for Planning, Development and Special Initiatives, Ahsan Iqbal, in Islamabad on Thursday. The meeting focused on enhancing bi-lateral cooperation in education, tourism, culture, economic reforms, and in-vestment promotion. Both sides reaffirmed their commitment to strengthening Pakistan-Germany relations and promoting mutually beneficial partnerships in areas of shared interest. During the meeting,Minister Ahsan Iqbal briefed the Ambassador on Pakistan’s economic recovery and reform agenda, highlighting improvements in macroeconomic stability, declining inflation, reduced policy rates, and renewed investor confidence. He underscored the government’s efforts to modernize public sector governance through the digitalization of development planning processes, including the transformation of the Planning Commission’s project management and approval systems to enhance transparency, efficiency, and accountability. The Minister also emphasized Pakistan’s keen interest in expanding cooperation with Germany in high-er education, faculty development, research collaboration, scholar-ships, and academic ex-change programmes to strengthen human cap-ital development. The Minister further invited Germany to collaborate in promoting sustainable and and environmentally responsible tourism in Gilgit-Baltistan and welcomed German expertise in tourism plan-ning and institutional development.