A 10-member delegation of the World Bank's executive directors is currently in Pakistan on a five-day visit.
The visit is part of a regular programme under which executive directors visit a number of countries every year to review policies and programs of the bank and their outcome.
The delegation will attend briefings by key policy-makers on poverty reduction, education, health, infrastructure, privatisation, governance, investment climate and overall financial and economic reforms in the country.
During the meeting, Nasir Khan and Javed Ashraf Qazi discussed various projects in health and education sectors that are currently being funded by the World Bank.
Conveying his concerns, Nasir said the multilateral funding approach of the bank at provincial and district levels is creating a lot of problems pertaining to data collection and implementation. He urged the delegation that the World Bank needs to provide its financial assistance to provincial and district governments through the federal government to avoid financial misunderstandings and indiscipline.
The health minister further told the delegation that the government was fully aware of all health issues and taking positive steps to provide best healthcare facilities.
He informed the delegation that the health ministry has taken concrete initiatives for control and prevention of hepatitis, tuberculosis, malaria and other diseases.
Discussing the crippling disease of HIV/AIDS, the minister said Pakistan was a low prevalence and high-risk country in the spread of HIV/AIDS.
The government, he added, is fully aware of the situation and taking all necessary measures to control and prevent HIV/AIDS to high-risk segments of the society.
Nasir went on to say that polio eradication was the top priority of the government and with the assistance of donors, the government is able to successfully controlled polio virus which, he hoped, would be eradicated in current year.
Highlighting progress in the education sector, the minister informed the delegation that the government is emphasising on reforming educational curriculum in the light of national and international educational standards.
The minister said training of teachers and managers of academic institutions is government's priority area for quality education. Qazi further said the government had registered 25 percent madressas and changed their curriculum in view of the syllabus, being taught in public sector.
The World Bank delegation expressed its satisfaction over the pace of implementation of projects in both sectors funded by it. They showed their keen interest in continuing assistance in ongoing projects in social sector.
The federal government is confronting a serious problem as non-governmental organisations and other social welfare organisations at provincial and district levels are getting handsome amount of foreign aid without informing the center. As a result, the federal government has no data of foreign aid going directly into the hands of NGOs.
Opposition lawmakers have, time and again, raised the issue in the parliament for adopting a proper monitoring system.-PR