Pakistan Link Headlines

Pakistan welcomes donors assistance for population welfare: Aziz

ISLAMABAD : Pakistan would welcome international donors' assistance for its National Programme on Population Welfare and HIV AIDs.

This was stated by Shaukat Aziz, Finance Minister in a meeting here this morning with Dr. Nafis Sadiq, Special Envoy of UN on Population Welfare. Aziz said that Pakistan attaches priority to population welfare programme as it was directly linked with economic stability and sustained development. He further said that although fertility rate was declining, the trend must be accelerated to provide quality health and education facilities to the people of Pakistan. He underlined the need for evolving integrated approach for the National Programme on Population Welfare to coordinate assistance of donor agencies and ensures their effective utilization to sustain the thrust of programme to match the outcomes. Similarly, two sides agreed to give equal importance to HIV AIDs Programme. In this regard, the two sides agreed to involve international donors including UNFPA, DFID, World Bank, CIDA and other international agencies to evolve an integrated approach to address the issue of HIV AIDs and eradicate it through mass campaign and health education.

The Finance Minister stated that Pakistan has increased allocation on social sector to provide quality infrastructure including health and education facilities to the people of Pakistan. He said Poverty Reduction and Growth Facility Programme, increased spending on social sector and quality monitoring of government spending based on outcome driven approach have improved delivery of social services. He said that an effective mechanism has been put in place to monitor the social sector programme to ensure its effectiveness. The delivery of social services is being largely devolved to local governments and we need assistance towards capacity building in districts all over Pakistan. He also urged donors' cooperation for an effective mechanism to evolve an integrated programme on population welfare and HIV AIDs to ensure its effective implementation at the gross root level.

The two sides also discussed UNFPA fund utilization and agreed that the existing allocation of over US $ 30 million needs to be increased manifold to address the issue of childspacing and attacking HIV AIDs.

ORASCOM to diversify investment in Pakistan:

Naguib Sawaris, Chairman Mobilink and Orascom Telecommunication in a meeting with Finance Minister, Shaukat Aziz here this morning indicated that his company wanted to invest in real estate, hotel industry and fertilizer plants to increase and diversify investment in Pakistan. He said that Pakistan was strategically located and offered a transparent, hospitable and hassle-free investment friendly regime. The investment of the Mobilink have increased to US $ 500 million and is expected to exceed US $ 700 million by the next year. He further informed the Finance Minister that the Mobilink have more than 1.9 million customers and the number is expected to increase to more than 2.5 million in the coming months.

He offered to increase his investment and assured more revenues to the government if was offered matching incentives to expand his existing business in Pakistan. Finance Minister, Shaukat Aziz appreciated the investment made by ORASCOM in Pakistan and assured that Pakistan would continue to encourage investors to increase their investment in the country. He further advised Mr. Sawaris to set up call centers to diversify his business of telecommunication and offered all assistance and help in setting up business in real estate, hotel industry and fertilizer plant. The Minister said that Pakistan's economic situation has improved, gross foreign exchange reserves are in the vicinity of US $ 12 billion, exchange rate is stable, stock markets are buoyant and international credit rating has improved. This in turn has encouraged investors to explore investment opportunities offered by Pakistan in a riddle free investment climate.


	Pakistan welcomes donors assistance for population welfare: Aziz ISLAMABAD : Pakistan would welcome international donors' assistance for its National Programme on Population Welfare and HIV AIDs. This was stated by Shaukat Aziz, Finance Minister in a meeting here this morning with Dr. Nafis Sadiq, Special Envoy of UN on Population Welfare. Aziz said that Pakistan attaches priority to population welfare programme as it was directly linked with economic stability and sustained development. He further said that although fertility rate was declining, the trend must be accelerated to provide quality health and education facilities to the people of Pakistan. He underlined the need for evolving integrated approach for the National Programme on Population Welfare to coordinate assistance of donor agencies and ensures their effective utilization to sustain the thrust of programme to match the outcomes. Similarly, two sides agreed to give equal importance to HIV AIDs Programme. In this regard, the two sides agreed to involve international donors including UNFPA, DFID, World Bank, CIDA and other international agencies to evolve an integrated approach to address the issue of HIV AIDs and eradicate it through mass campaign and health education. The Finance Minister stated that Pakistan has increased allocation on social sector to provide quality infrastructure including health and education facilities to the people of Pakistan. He said Poverty Reduction and Growth Facility Programme, increased spending on social sector and quality monitoring of government spending based on outcome driven approach have improved delivery of social services. He said that an effective mechanism has been put in place to monitor the social sector programme to ensure its effectiveness. The delivery of social services is being largely devolved to local governments and we need assistance towards capacity building in districts all over Pakistan. He also urged donors' cooperation for an effective mechanism to evolve an integrated programme on population welfare and HIV AIDs to ensure its effective implementation at the gross root level. The two sides also discussed UNFPA fund utilization and agreed that the existing allocation of over US $ 30 million needs to be increased manifold to address the issue of childspacing and attacking HIV AIDs. ORASCOM to diversify investment in Pakistan: Naguib Sawaris, Chairman Mobilink and Orascom Telecommunication in a meeting with Finance Minister, Shaukat Aziz here this morning indicated that his company wanted to invest in real estate, hotel industry and fertilizer plants to increase and diversify investment in Pakistan. He said that Pakistan was strategically located and offered a transparent, hospitable and hassle-free investment friendly regime. The investment of the Mobilink have increased to US $ 500 million and is expected to exceed US $ 700 million by the next year. He further informed the Finance Minister that the Mobilink have more than 1.9 million customers and the number is expected to increase to more than 2.5 million in the coming months. He offered to increase his investment and assured more revenues to the government if was offered matching incentives to expand his existing business in Pakistan. Finance Minister, Shaukat Aziz appreciated the investment made by ORASCOM in Pakistan and assured that Pakistan would continue to encourage investors to increase their investment in the country. He further advised Mr. Sawaris to set up call centers to diversify his business of telecommunication and offered all assistance and help in setting up business in real estate, hotel industry and fertilizer plant. The Minister said that Pakistan's economic situation has improved, gross foreign exchange reserves are in the vicinity of US $ 12 billion, exchange rate is stable, stock markets are buoyant and international credit rating has improved. This in turn has encouraged investors to explore investment opportunities offered by Pakistan in a riddle free investment climate.
	Back to Top