We went aboard a cruise ship navigating some of the world's most dangerous waters. In the Arctic, drifting icebergs, sea ice, sudden storms and fierce winds make sailing unpredictable. Yet every year, around 100,000 cruise passengers travel to Greenland to explore its remote coastline and experience one of the world's last great wildernesses.

ISLAMABAD – Pakistan stepped up efforts to ease its mounting debt repayment pressures with fresh financing discussions with three major United Arab Emirates (UAE) banks, exploring Sukuk issuance, debt refinancing and investment opportunities across key sectors of the economy.

Finance Minister Aurangzeb held separate meetings with delegations from Sharjah Islamic Bank, Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank (ADCB) and Ajman Bank on the sidelines of the World Bank Group–IMF Annual Meetings 2026 in Bangkok, with discussions centred on reducing borrowing costs, extending repayment periods and diversifying financing sources.

The talks come as Pakistan seeks to replace expensive short-term borrowing with more sustainable arrangements and manage concentrated debt repayments without increasing its overall external debt burden.

The proposed financing avenues include Islamic bonds, international capital market transactions, credit-supported funding structures and instruments designed to broaden access to foreign financing. However, the discussions have not, by themselves, resulted in confirmed financing agreements.

Aurangzeb briefed the banking delegations on Pakistan’s improving fiscal and external indicators, highlighting stronger foreign exchange reserves, credit rating upgrades and progress under the International Monetary Fund (IMF) programme. He reaffirmed the government’s commitment to macroeconomic stability, fiscal consolidation and export-led growth, stressing the importance of sustaining reforms while improving the country’s financing position.

Sharjah Islamic Bank emerged as a potential partner in Pakistan’s efforts to expand its financing options, with discussions covering prospective Sukuk issuance, rupee-denominated instruments settled in US dollars, additional Panda bonds and possible Eurobond tokenisation.

The two sides also examined financing supported by the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA), particularly against the backdrop of rising global borrowing costs.

Sharjah Islamic Bank reaffirmed its support for Pakistan and expressed willingness to participate in a Sukuk issuance, although the final terms and size of any transaction were not disclosed.

Aurangzeb highlighted investment opportunities in refinery upgrades, power distribution privatisation and airport outsourcing, alongside efforts to strengthen capital market benchmarks through issuances by financial institutions.

Expanding access to financing for businesses, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and the agriculture sector also featured in the discussions, reflecting a broader push to channel funding into productive economic activities.

Pakistan’s discussions with Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank focused on capital market transactions and measures to improve the country’s debt profile, particularly through the refinancing of costly short-term obligations and the extension of repayment maturities.

Aurangzeb welcomed the bank’s interest in several potential transactions, including the restoration of Pakistan’s credit limits, participation in financing through the International Islamic Trade Finance Corporation (ITFC), MIGA-backed funding and a Diversified Payment Rights (DPR) transaction supported by the International Finance Corporation (IFC).

In a separate meeting with Ajman Bank, Aurangzeb explored potential Sukuk offerings and dollar-settled, rupee-denominated instruments as part of Pakistan’s wider strategy to diversify its funding sources.

The finance minister emphasised the need to reduce reliance on expensive short-term borrowing, spread repayment obligations over longer periods and manage concentrated debt maturities without adding to the country’s overall external debt.

Beyond debt management, the meetings highlighted Pakistan’s efforts to attract financing for sectors that could support economic activity and long-term growth.

Refinery upgrades, power distribution privatisation, airport outsourcing, electricity transmission and the ML-1 railway project featured prominently across the discussions. Data centres and digital financial services also emerged as potential areas for investment.

The post Pakistan seeks Debt Relief from 3 UAE Banks in Major Funding Push appeared first on Daily Pakistan English News.

For more than three decades, Michael Gove has been a leading figure in British Conservatism. As a journalist, government minister and now editor of the Tory bible, the Spectator, he has helped shape the right even as it has moved further rightwards. In the latest episode of Radical Thinking, Gove joins Aditya Chakrabortty to discuss the future of the right, his record on Brexit and austerity, and the Spectator’s position on Islam

Watch the full episode with Michael Gove here.

Aditya’s suggested reading:

To read the fruits of Michael Gove’s dalliance with the Marxism Today gang, look up his essay in a 1998 collection called The Moderniser’s Dilemma: Radical Politics in the Age of Blair

For slalom ride through Michael Gove’s years in power, read The Demented Dalek by the historian Richard J Evans in the London Review of Books

To learn more on what’s become of the British right, there’s a column by me for the Guardian

Just why the most successful political party is now failing is analysed in-depth by Phil Burton-Cartledge in his book The Party’s Over: The Rise and Fall of the Conservatives from Thatcher to Sunak

Phil also writes a very good blog on British politics, which keeps a close eye on how each party is trying to marshall a coalition of voters. Here he is on Kemi Badenoch

Geoffrey Wheatcroft does an entertaining short narrative in Bloody Panico!:

or, Whatever Happened to The Tory Party

For more on the economics of the Cameron years, this paper is acute on how the Tories failed to move the UK away from being a country of renters towards a country of makers. Two of its authors will join us for a podcast later in the series.

And if you want to read how Brexit may have cost the UK 8% of GDP, there’s this paper based on data from the Bank of England

Finally, on the Spectator read Nesrine Malik’s recent column in The Guardian

Why has Britain’s oldest political magazine become such a rabid cheerleader for Islamophobia?

Whether it was youngsters proving their skills or state sabotage, Europe’s most hacked country was left with a mountain of waste after food began cooking in freezers

Shortly before midnight last Sunday, the digital thermostats controlling hundreds of supermarket cold aisles across France began to flicker and rise.

In a “bizarre and unprecedented” cyber-attack, hackers had remotely overridden the temperature settings on thousands of freezers, fridges and chiller cabinets pushing them from as low as -27C (-16.6F) to well over 50C (122F).

Former minister and OECD head urges Australia not to adopt migration caps, with research showing migrants boost employment

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Australia’s mainstream political parties are being warned not to adopt populist policies such as migration caps to address voters’ grievances over the cost of living.

Instead, Australia’s longest-serving finance minister, Mathias Cormann, is urging politicians to deliver housing, real wage growth and lower energy costs by boosting productivity.

As house prices plateau, the gap between the cost of buying and renting is narrowing in dozens of suburbs

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High rents and falling property prices have opened a rare window for Australian tenants to become homeowners, with mortgage repayments cheaper than rent in dozens of suburbs.

Guardian Australia’s analysis of Cotality data shows that median rents in inner-city Melbourne, suburban Canberra and Darwin are now nearly matching weekly home loan repayments.

In one in 10 suburbs and towns across the country, repayments are less than $200 a week higher than rent, for the typical property. In some suburbs, they are actually cheaper.