CSF to give $750 million by November-end: Tapi project, land surveying mapping bill approved by Cabinet

The Federal Cabinet in its 66th meeting held here at Governor''s House on Wednesday with Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani in the chair, expressed satisfaction over the recently concluded third round of Pak-US Strategic Dialogue. Prime Minister asked the Foreign Minister to take parliament into confidence on this dialogue.
The Federal Cabinet approved the Land Surveying and Mapping Bill as well as the Pak-US Strategic Dialogue and also reviewed the implementation of its previous meeting''s decisions.
The Cabinet realised that the amount earmarked for the small farmers of the flood-affected areas was not sufficient and asked ECC to convene a special meeting and review its decision on the issue. Later, Federal Minister Qamar-uz-Zaman Kaira giving details of the decisions of the Cabinet at a news briefing that 85 percent decisions of the Federal Cabinet taken in its previous meeting had been implemented.
He said that a two-day meeting of Pakistan Development Forum (PDF) would be held in the mid of next month. Briefing media further, Kaira said that the cabinet deliberated upon the annual event of PDF meeting, in which cabinet members agreed with the Prime Minister''s vision- "At the PDF meeting, our basic objective would be to seek access to international markets for trade, which means we want to get rid of aid and resolve to improve country''s economic health through enhanced global trade."
He said Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani congratulated the Pakistan team that took part in strategic dialogue and the Cabinet expressed its satisfaction over the outcome of the dialogue.
He said the PPP-led coalition government had the credit of expanding the scope of this strategic dialogue from five to 13 sectors, adding that now the food security, agriculture, industry, energy as well as public diplomacy and IT sectors had also been incorporated in the dialogue. The Pak-US relations were being made people-centric to strengthen democracy in Pakistan, he said.
He said the Steering Committee headed by Secretary Foreign Affairs of Pakistan and Ambassador Richard Holbrooke would follow up on decisions of the dialogue, while Vision Paper covering all the 13 sectors and the mechanism had been prepared to monitor the progress.
He said the US President Barack Obama also met Pakistani delegation. He had made a commitment to visit Pakistan next year and also invited President Asif Ali Zardari to visit his country. The US had assured Pakistan a five-year $1.5 billion economic assistance package per annum under the Kerry-Lugar Law for socio-economic development, besides announcing another five-year Security Assistance Package worth $2 billion, he said.
Kaira said the Coalition Support Fund would be expedited and Pakistan would receive $750 million by next month end, asserting that US would also help modernise and upgrade the law enforcement agencies of Pakistan, including supply of necessary equipment and $125 million had been allocated for this purpose.
The Minister said that US had earmarked $300 million for Enterprise Fund to promote public-private partnership in Pakistan through corporate investment. He said that US had recognised and appreciated Pakistan''s role and services against terrorism. Pakistani delegation also apprised the US administration and the IMF about the flood devastations and the cooperation they needed.
The Cabinet also discussed the country''s political and economic situation and vowed to pursue the policy of reconciliation. The Minister stated that cabinet gave go ahead to acquisition of Nuclear Power Plant from China and development of Iran Gas Pipeline.
The Federal Cabinet accorded approval to Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India (TAPI) Gas Pipeline Project- Gas Pipeline Framework Agreement (GPFA). Federal Information Minister stated that Transparency International had released a flawed report on corruption index on Pakistan, adding that Labour Ministry would serve a legal notice on TI. The Minister stated that each federal minister''s wife would give away one set of gold ornaments to daughters of flood-affected persons. Speaking on political situation, he said that PPP''s links with PML-Q were quite old. MQM ministers were not present in the Federal Cabinet''s meeting.