Finance Minister Dr Abdul Hafeez Shaikh in a meeting here on Monday discussed various dimensions of Pak-UK development co-operation with Francis Campbell, UK Deputy High Commissioner, and Director, UK Trade & Investment, Zaffar Chida, Chief Executive and Mehran, Finance Manager, Premier Oil.
The Minister appreciated UK's efforts as a leading bilateral development partner of Pakistan and its budgetary support mainly in the areas of education, health, poverty reduction and governance. It was noted that out of UK's commitment of £120 million for Poverty Reduction Budgetary Support, £60 million stood disbursed, while the remaining has been diverted to Citizens' Damage Compensation Program (CDCP) phase-II.
Pakistan and UK entered into a long-term development assistance relationship in 2006 by signing a 10-year Development Partnership Arrangement (DPA). In line with the shared vision set forth in the DPA, UK Government published its Country Plan for Pakistan for the period 2008-2013. The Country Plan focuses on 'Sustainable growth', 'Faster progress towards Millennium Development Goals (MDGs)' 'Better governance' and 'Improving aid effectiveness through donor harmonisation'.
The meeting also discussed the Pak-UK trade relations, as UK is most important trading partner within the European Union (EU). In the same way, UK has traditionally been the second largest investor in Pakistan and foreign direct investment (FDI) of UK in Pakistan stood at $208.1 million in 2010-11.-PR