The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has said that recent news stories about a meeting between its President and India’s Finance Minister are not true. Some media reports claimed that the two leaders talked about Pakistan, but ADB says that did not happen.

In a statement, ADB explained, “The Asian Development Bank (ADB) is aware of media reports claiming that issues related to Pakistan were discussed during the bilateral meeting between ADB President Masato Kanda and Indian Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on the sidelines of the 58th ADB Annual Meeting in Milan, Italy.”

The bank clearly added, “These media reports are incorrect. Issues related to Pakistan were not discussed during the bilateral meeting.”

Earlier, some news reports said that India’s Finance Minister, Nirmala Sitharaman, had asked the ADB to reduce or stop financial help to Pakistan. These reports said it was because of Pakistan’s alleged support for cross-border terrorism.

These claims started spreading after a deadly terror attack took place in Pahalgam, Jammu and Kashmir, on April 22. In that attack, 26 innocent people, including many tourists, were killed by a group linked to the Pakistan-based terror group Lashkar-e-Taiba.

India’s Ministry of Finance also denied the reports. It posted a message on the social media platform X, through a PIB (Press Information Bureau) fact check. The post said that the stories about India asking Italy or the ADB to cut funds to Pakistan were not true.

The main message from both ADB and the Indian government is clear: No discussion about Pakistan took place during the meeting.

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