December 10, 2003	Wednesday	Shawwal 15, 1424

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ISLAMABAD, Dec 9: The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has approved a technical assistance (TA) of $150,000 to the Pakistan government to strengthen the financial management capacity of project management units at federal and provincial levels.

The ADB country director, M. Ali Shah, in a statement, said the goal of this TA was to assist the government in poverty reduction and social development through effective use of financial resources.

He said this goal would be achieved by assisting the project management units in implementing the ADB-financed projects, and by helping the staff of the Department of Auditor General of Pakistan (AGP) in conducting the audit of ADB-assisted projects.

The technical assistance has three major components, which are financial management and accounting, audit, and training. Each component will be implemented by a team of experienced domestic experts, who will work closely with the staff of the ADB resident mission, the AGP and the Controller General of Accounts.

Mr Shah said the assistance was expected to result in better financial management of foreign-assisted projects, improved and timely submission of audited project accounts/financial statements, and timely resolution of outstanding audit observations.

The main output of the TA will be in the form of an accounting manual and revised auditing guidelines, and training manuals for accounts and audit. Similarly, the training programmes will form an integral part of the courses conducted by the Audit and Accounts Training Institute of the AGP, which will be the executing agency.

The technical assistance will be implemented over 12 months starting from January 2004.