October 2, 2020: Federal Minister for Economic Affairs Makhdum Khusro Bakhtyar chaired the tripartite wrap-up meeting on Portfolio Review of USAID Projects in Pakistan at Ministry of Economic Affairs yesterday.
The meeting was attended by officials of USAID and senior officers of the Provincial Governments & lined departments.
Pakistan and USA signed “Pakistan Enhanced Partnership Agreement (PEPA)” on September 30, 2010. The volume of committed economic assistance under PEPA is USD 4.275 billion and out of this, USAID has disbursed USD 3.4 billion to Pakistan.
The total number of on-going projects are 65, encompassing socio-economic sector like education, health, energy, agriculture, infrastructure/reconstruction, democracy & governance, economic growth and resilience.
The Minister appreciated the grant extended by USAID worth of USD 32 million under PEPA to curtail the negative impact on the economy during the Pandemic, which remained the highest grant assistance for combating COVID in Pakistan.
He laid stress to improve this portfolio by synergised the development agenda to maximize the utility of this aid program in the country. He said that the government had simplified project planning, approval & execution process to expedite the process of project implementation.
The Federal Minister also indicated that the government would review the policy framework for grant assistance to make it demand driven, public centric and multi-sectorial to cultivate maximum benefits for communities. He flagged the need of USAID economic grant for BISP, energy sector reforms, and western corridor to strengthen the portfolio.
The Minister also highlighted the role of the portfolio review sessions to surveil the status of projects, identify the bottlenecks and set the targets to expedite implementation process. He underlined the need of regular reporting and coordination mechanism between donor and recipient to execute the project in an efficient manner.
The Minister directed to the heads of relevant departments to address the technical issues and safeguard the compliances to improve the performance of USAID projects. At the conclusion of meeting, Mission Director thanked the Minister to chair the portfolio review sessions for timely implementation of the Projects. She hoped that the economic cooperation between US and Pakistan would be continued in the future.
Press Release
37248
