Work on all the 40 United Nations Development Programme-funded projects is going on according to schedule and these will be completed on time, UNDP Assistant Resident Representative, Mohammad Zafar Iqbal told Business Recorder here on Sunday. Talking to this scribe at a reception given in honour of the retiring UNDP representative Onder Yucer, Zafar said that presently 40 projects are at various stages of completion at a cost of $33 million.
He said that these projects included micro-finance to the residents of Kachi Abbadies (slums) of 11 cities, poverty alleviation, disaster preparedness, capacity building of government officials to handle gender issues, conservation of wetlands and mountainous areas of NWFP and Northern Areas, forest protection, devolution trust for community empowerment, promotion of tourism through cultural activity and several projects of environment improvement and water conservation.
Zafar said that during the past five years projects worth $200 million have been completed with tremendous benefits to the people.
The UNDP official said that there had been some problems between the UNDP and the Government of Pakistan in the 1990's but now there is complete understanding and excellent co-operation between the two sides. "All projects, whether in the private or public sector are being prepared and implemented with the consent of the Government of Pakistan"
Earlier, the retiring UNDP representative Onder Yucer told Business Recorder that his five years' stay in Pakistan was the most memorable period of his life.
"Pakistanis are the most hospitable people in the world, and though he is retiring, yet he would be coming to Pakistan quite often to meet his life-long friends," he added.
Onder Yucer, who is a Turk, said "the Turks have unique love and respect for Pakistanis in their hearts even though majority of them never came to Pakistan or ever met Pakistanis, but after meeting and living with Pakistanis my love is thousands time more than an ordinary Turk. Everyone can understand my parting feelings."
Ghazi Salahuddin and Mohammad Nadeem Iqbal of MKR Foundation on the occasion paid tributes to Onder Yucer for his yeoman's services for the UNDP development projects in Pakistan and his personal interest for well-being of Pakistanis.
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