ISLAMABAD: Hiroshi OE, Ambassador of Japan to Pakistan has expressed
that Pakistan and Japan shared common, mutual views on various
contemporary issues of theworld including the ongoing war against
terrorism.
Talking to Ms. Farzana Raja during his visit to BISP
Secretariat on Wednesday, the Japanese ambassador expressed full
resolve of Japansese governemnt to help Pakistan in the social sector,
especially the efforts directed to curb the poverty, despite the fact
that Japan was itself currently, going through a financial crunch as a
result of devastating earthquake and subsequent Tsunami.
The
Japanese ambassador lauded the efforts of BISP regarding poverty
alleviation and said that Vocational Training Programme (VTP) has
proved instrumental in poverty reduction in various countries, and
expressed the possibility of mutual cooperation with regard to
Vocational Training initiative as well as micro-financing in
collaboration with JICA.
Earlier, Ms. Farzana Raja presented
the detail of various initiatives and the components of the BISP,
saying that said that poverty had a direct linkage with terrorism and
had hence has been made a prime objective of the programme.
She
said that vocational training to beneficiary families aimed to attain
financial self sustainability for these downtrodden segments of
society; and having limited capacity , sought cooperation from various
international institutions/countries to enhance the opportunities of
training for common people of Pakistan. She informed that so far the
programme has taken into its fold more than 4 million deserving
families and this number is expected to rise up to 7 million as a
result of poverty survey being conducted to identify beneficiary
families in an effective and transparent manner. The poverty survey is
first ever such initiative in the South Asia. She also said that BISP
had achieved remarkable success in a very short time period and won the
trust of various prestigious international bodies for its transparent
mechanisms. On behalf of Pakistani nation, she also expressed
solidarity with Japanese people on the devastation caused by recent
earthquake and tsunami. Online
