MANILA: Federal Minister and Chairperson Benazir Income Support
Programme (BISP), Farzana Raja has termed the support of Asian
Development Bank (ADB) vital for economic as well as human development
initiatives aiming to improve the lives of marginalized segments of
society.
She said this during a high level meeting with
President ADB Mr. Haruhiko Kuroda and the other top management of the
Bank. Secretary BISP Mr. Sher Khan, Pakistan’s Ambassador to
Philippines Mr. Mohsin Razi, Alternate Executive Director for Pakistan
Mr. Siraj Shamsuddin, Director General Center and West Asia Regional
Department, Mr. Juan Miranda were also present on the occasion.
During
the meeting, avenues of cooperation between the two organizations came
under discussion as well as the future oriented endeavors of BISP
regarding poverty alleviation and socio-economic uplift of the poor
segments of society. Sharing of BISP experiences and success stories
with other development partners were another highlight of the meeting.
Haruhiko
Kuroda, on the occasion applauded the efforts of BISP regarding poverty
alleviation. While appreciating the element of transparency in the
working of BISP, he assured Madame Farzana Raja for continued support
of ADB to BISP for its future endeavors as well. The President of ADB
termed BISP as a role model for the other similar initiatives in other
developing countries aiming to provide relief to their poor population.
Earlier, Farzana Raja gave a detailed presentation to top ADB
management regarding various components/initiatives of BISP envisaged
to improve the living standards of the poor and marginalized segments
of society as well as the transparent mechanism adopted by BISP. She
also presented an outlook of various future oriented initiatives of
BISP which are to be launched soon.
Federal Minister and
Chairperson BISP proposed to evolve a comprehensive partnership between
ADB and BISP, the pros and cons of which were discussed in details
during the meeting.
While expressing her gratitude for
confidence and consistent support of ADB being extended to BISP right
from its inception, she emphasized on enhanced investment and
cooperation towards social protection of poor in Pakistan through
comprehensive social safety nets like BISP so that the underprivileged
strata of the society may conveniently cater for its basic needs which
is also imperative for the success of efforts pertaining to economic
and human Federal
Farzana Raja said that a support of $150
Million by ADB has proved instrumental to implement the social safety
plan of BISP for millions of its beneficiaries. She added that the
deprived and underprivileged segments is a major section of Pakistani
society and BISP is striving to bring them in the national mainstream
which is the only way forward for a progressive Pakistan. Online
