Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto held successful meetings with the IMF in Washington and said that at her meeting with US President Clinton on 11 April she would urge the US to repeal the Pressler Amendment and lift sanctions on military equipment (MEED 14:4:95).

Following a 10 April meeting with Bhutto, during her 12-day visit to the US, IMF managing director Michel Camdessus said he believed that Pakistan's revised economic plan would win approval from the IMF board.

The IMF and Pakistan now have an agreement for a further year for the extended fund facility, Camdessus added. He would not comment on Pakistan's new budget deficit estimate. The meeting followed talks with the IMF in Islamabad in March, where Pakistan said it had to revise its economic targets for the fiscal year 1994/95 (MEED 24:3:95).

On the eve of her talks with Clinton, Bhutto said: 'We're not here expecting overnight results....We are here to start the process for putting US-Pakistan relations back on track.' Bhutto has made a strong appeal for the lifting of military sanctions. She will also discuss the $1,400 million stalled warplane deal. The delivery of 28 US F-16 fighter planes has been blocked since 1990. Pakistan wants the delivery of the planes or the return of its money.

The Pakistani team is expecting to sign 50 memorandums of understanding covering a total investment of about $7,000 million, during the US visit.