ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb will attend the four-day Boao Forum for Asia (BFA) Annual Conference 2025 in China today, Tuesday, state-run media reported, where he is expected to participate in high-level discussions and sessions to talk about Pakistan’s economic landscape.
Headquartered in China, the BFA is an international organization jointly initiated by 29 member states which holds its annual conference in Boao, Hainan. The founding purpose of the BFA was to promote economic integration in Asia.
The theme of this year’s conference, which will be held from Mar. 25-28, is “Asia in the Changing World: Towards a Shared Future.” The BFA says the conference is aimed at upholding multilateralism, fostering openness and development, and jointly tackling global challenges while remaining focused on Asia.
“He [Aurangzeb] will elucidate Pakistan’s economic outlook during the high-level discussions at the forum,” state broadcaster Radio Pakistan said. “On the sidelines of the forum, the finance minister will meet delegates from participating countries, officials of commercial and investment banks and senior Chinese officials.”
It added that the Pakistani finmin is also expected to meet representatives of selected international and Chinese media representatives.
The development takes place as Pakistan desperately tries to wiggle out of a macroeconomic crisis that has drained its foreign exchange reserves, weakened its national currency and increased its existing liabilities.
Pakistan came to the brink of a sovereign default in 2023 before it secured a last-gasp deal with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) that year. Islamabad also secured a $7 billion economic bailout package from the international lender in 2024 in exchange for committing to undertake long-term financial reforms in its priority sectors.
Islamabad has reached out to regional allies such as China, Central Asian countries and Middle Eastern nations in recent months to attract international trade and enhance investment to escape its economic crisis.
China is a major ally and investor in Pakistan that has pledged over $65 billion in investment in road, infrastructure and development projects under the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), a part of the Belt and Road Initiative that is a massive China-led infrastructure project that aims to stretch around the globe.
