Germany to grant €10 million

ISLAMABAD: Germany will provide technical assistance worth €10 million to Pakistan for two projects i.e., ‘Promoting Resilience against Impacts of Natural Disaster in Pakistan’ and ‘Improvement of Labour, Social and Environmental Standards in Pakistan Textile Industry’, a statement said on Thursday.

Noor Ahmed, Secretary, Ministry of Economic Affairs, and Bernhard Schlagheck, Ambassador of Germany to Pakistan inked the agreement.

According to the statement the aim of the project “Promoting Resilience against Impacts of Natural Disaster in Pakistan” is to technically equip the disaster management authorities to support in development planning and implementation to reduce disaster risks.

The project “Improvement of Labour, Social and Environmental Standards in Pakistan Textile Industry” focused on improving the framework conditions for the implementation of labour standards in the province of Punjab, the statement said.

The project would also support the dialogue between state, private ,and civil society stakeholders and promotes incentives and advise companies to improve labour standards, it added. Development cooperation between Pakistan and Germany dates back to 1961 with funding volume to-date totaling more than €3 billion. On this occasion, the two sides reiterated their resolve to further strengthen bilateral cooperation.

Speaking on the occasion, Secretary, Ministry of Economic Affairs thanked the German government for the grant of technical assistance in priority areas of Government of Pakistan, while the German envoy expressed his desire to enhance the economic cooperation with Pakistan in the future.