Steps for economic revitalisation of merged districts finalised

PESHAWAR: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government has finalised policy recommendations for the economic revitalisation of the merged districts.

According to an official communique, the recommendations were made in collaboration with the Small and Medium Enterprises Development Authority (SMEDA), the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and United States Agency for International Development (USAID).

The recommendations, the communique said, were aimed at boosting economic and trade activities through enhanced private sector investment in the merged districts by focusing on key thematic areas, including economic infrastructure, women entrepreneurship, skills development and job placement, banking and finance, investment and innovation, marketing and communication and regulatory mechanism.

The recommendations will serve as strategy documents for the government in policy decisions and formulating developmental schemes for the merged areas.

Officials said the policy recommendations were presented to Chief Minister Mahmood Khan at a meeting.

Besides Advisers to Chief Minister Abdul Karim Khan and Ghazan Jamal, the event was attended by Programme Manager UNDP, Tania Razhek, Chief Executive Officer SMEDA, Hashim Raza and others.

Speaking on the occasion, the chief minister termed the policy recommendations important for the sustainable development of the merged districts and said that these would help chalk out long-term uplift schemes for the areas with the aim to create maximum employment opportunities for the locals. He added that the recommendations would serve as guiding principles for the government in important policy decisions.

He termed sustainable development of the merged districts as the top priority of his government and said that all the available resources would be utilised for the purpose and all the commitments made to the tribal people would be fulfilled.

Mahmood Khan said the process of merger of the tribal districts had been completed and now the government was focusing on the accelerated development of these districts, adding that result-oriented steps were being taken in collaboration with the partner organisations. He appreciated the efforts of SMEDA, UNDP and USAID in framing the recommendations.