Pakistan and United Kingdom has decided to streamline development cooperation under the country plan that focuses on “Sustainable growth”, “Faster progress towards Millennium Development Goals (MDGs)”, “Better governance” and “Improving aid effectiveness through donor harmonisation”. Federal Minister for Finance and Economic Affairs Dr Abdul Hafeez Shaikh discussed various dimensions of Pak-UK development cooperation with Francis Campbell, Deputy High Commissioner and Director UK Trade and Investment, Zaffar Chida, Chief Executive and Mehran, Finance Manager, Premier Oil, during a meeting in his office today. Finance Minister appreciated UK’s efforts as a leading bilateral development partner of Pakistan and its budgetary support mainly in areas of education, health, poverty reduction and governance. It was discussed in the meeting that out of UK’s commitment of £120 million for Poverty Reduction Budgetary Support, £60 million stands disbursed while the remaining amount has been diverted to Citizen’s 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 DPA, UK Government published its Country Plan for Pakistan for the period 2008-2013. The meeting also discussed Pak-UK trade relations, as UK is the most important trading partner within European Union (EU). Simlarly, UK has traditionally been the second largest investor in Pakistan and Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) of UK in Pakistan stands at $208.1 million in 2010-11. The meeting also deliberated on certain FBR (Federal Board of Revenue) related issues of some British companies working in oil and gas sector. Finance Minister assured the delegation that issues will be resolved accordingly so that our development cooperation is further strengthened.
