By Karim Madad ISLAMABAD, March 28, (INP-WealthPK): The USD1.2 billion trade and infrastructure agreement signed between Pakistan and the International Islamic Trade Finance Corporation (ITFC) under the annual plan for the year 2022 would help develop the road and energy infrastructure besides promoting trade with Uzbekistan and other Central Asian Republics (CARs), renowned economist Dr. Waqar Ahmed told WealthPK. The agreement, signed recently, will provide integrated trade solutions to support Pakistan’s energy and agriculture sectors for sustained economic growth. Dr. Waqar Ahmed, who is also Joint Executive Director of the Sustainable Development Policy Institute (SDPI), termed the agreement a big development that will promote Pakistan's trade relations with other countries. He added this agreement would also help develop road infrastructures between Pakistan, Afghanistan and CARs. He said under the agreement, Pakistan would be able to do trade in foreign currency putting less pressure on the State Bank of Pakistan in terms of dollar. The agreement includes financing the import of essential commodities such as crude oil, refined petroleum products, LNG, food and agricultural products in addition to implementing trade related technical assistance intervention to ensure trade development impact. The annual plan was signed during a ceremony at the ITFC Headquarters in Jeddah between the ITFC and a delegation of the Ministry of Economic Affairs (EAD) of Pakistan. Nazeem Noordali, COO of the ITFC, said the annual plan reflected the importance of the longstanding cooperation between the ITFC and the Government of Pakistan. According to the Economic Affairs Division, Pakistan appreciated continued support and partnership with the ITFC and underlined the need for enhanced cooperation through more efficient processes to further promote Islamic trade finance and trade development interventions in Pakistan. Despite a challenging year due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the ITFC provided around US$1.1 billion of trade financing in 2021. It signed the 4th framework agreement with the Government of Pakistan in June 2021 for USD4.5 billion. Since 2008, the ITFC has provided USD6.7 billion in favour of the Government of Pakistan.