{"id":27734,"date":"2025-11-17T03:04:08","date_gmt":"2025-11-17T03:04:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/?p=27734"},"modified":"2025-11-17T03:04:08","modified_gmt":"2025-11-17T03:04:08","slug":"pakistan-must-guard-against-debt-trap-says-us-envoy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/?p=27734","title":{"rendered":"Pakistan must guard against \u2018debt trap\u2019, says US envoy"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>US Charg\u00e9 d\u2019Affaires Natalie Baker has said Pakistan is a sovereign nation and must safeguard itself from falling into any country\u2019s \u201cdebt trap\u201d, stressing that the country should fully implement its privatisation programme and complete the International Monetary Fund\u2019s (IMF) reform agenda to ensure long-term economic stability.<\/p>\n<p>She was speaking informally to journalists at Aiwan-e-Sadr on Sunday, where she had arrived to attend the ceremony in which President Asif Ali Zardari conferred the country\u2019s highest civilian award, Nishan-e-Pakistan, on Jordan\u2019s King Abdullah II.<\/p>\n<p>On a question regarding Pakistan\u2019s close relations with China, Baker said Pakistan was \u201ca free and sovereign country\u201d that could maintain ties with any nation it wished, but must \u201ccarefully protect its economic sovereignty and interests\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAny project that leads a country into a debt trap is a matter of concern for the whole world, she said, adding that Washington was fully aware of the sensitive nature of Pakistan-China relations.<\/p>\n<p>Baker stressed that only full compliance with the IMF\u2019s reform programme would make Pakistan\u2019s economic strategy successful. She noted that the World Bank was also extending effective support to Pakistan.<\/p>\n<p>Asked whether the IMF and World Bank were being excessively strict with Pakistan, she replied that the IMF wanted Pakistan to pursue economic reforms that would result in \u201ca better and sustainable economy\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>She added that Pakistan\u2019s economic relationship with the United States \u201chas always been strong and continues to progress\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>Baker stressed that Pakistan\u2019s sovereignty was \u201cextremely important\u201d for Washington and said the US was assisting Pakistan \u201cwith a big heart\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>Responding to a query about a possible visit by President Trump, she said that once he found time from his international commitments, \u201che will visit Pakistan\u201d.<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>US Charg\u00e9 d\u2019Affaires Natalie Baker has said Pakistan is a sovereign nation and must safeguard itself from falling into any country\u2019s \u201cdebt trap\u201d, stressing that the country should fully implement its privatisation programme and complete the International Monetary Fund\u2019s (IMF) reform agenda to ensure long-term economic stability. She was speaking informally to journalists at Aiwan-e-Sadr [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-27734","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-english-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27734","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=27734"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27734\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=27734"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=27734"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=27734"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}