ISLAMABAD: Government of Balochistan (GoB) and senior management of Pakistan Poverty Alleviation Fund (PPAF) on Wednesday met to further consolidate and operationalize the time-bound action plan to sign an integrated MoU between PPAF and Planning & Development (P&D) Balochistan.

The meeting was chaired by Additional Chief Secretary, Roshan Khursheed, also present at the meeting were Additional Chief Secretary – P&D, Additional Secretary – PHE, Executive Officer – Culture and Tourism department Government of Balochistan. During the meeting PPAF Group Head – Institutions, Integration, Integration (III), Irshad Khan Abbasi and Group Head – Infrastructure development, Shams Badruddin. PPAF presented suggestions for further collaboration and strengthening partnership in multiple sectors for the development of Balochistan and expanding the existing MoU, supervised by a steering committee under ACS, between both parties.

PPAF representatives put forward the notion to upscale existing joint development projects and initiate new innovative pilot projects. GoB Representatives agreed to support PPAF to hold a Water Strategy Workshop for the region in July where a draft will be shared with multi-stakeholders. Furthermore, an understanding was reached to allocate an operational fund by Balochistan Education Foundation (BEF) for 100 Community based schools of PPAF in the region. Further, GoB team also expressed interest to fund planning and implementing of innovative projects with PPAF, especially to foster the eco-tourism industry and improving digital literacy in the province.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2021