ISLAMABAD, March 22: The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) assistant secretary-general, Hafiz A. Pasha, and Finance Minister Shaukat Aziz here on Monday reviewed the utilization of $600 million allocation for the next five-year.

The UNDP's Country Programme Action Plan (CPAP) was signed recently for initiating this assistance. Mr Pasha appreciated and complimented the finance minister on the strong economic performance in terms of GDP and per capita income growth and other macro-economic indicators.

It was mutually agreed that continuity and consistency of the reforms programme were needed to maximize realization of fruits of economic growth leading to reduction of poverty.

The finance minister apprised Mr Pasha of the progress on the structural reforms of the government and the second generation reforms. Mr Pasha assured the finance minister of maximum support of the UNDP to the Government of Pakistan in the implementation of the second generation reforms.

He highlighted that the UNDP had earmarked $600 million dollars over five years to support the government's future programme in primary health, education, population planning, gender development and environment. The UNDP's financial and technical assistance would also be available in capacity building and expertise to meet future challenges, he added.

Mr Aziz welcomed the commitment of the UNDP to assist the government in second generation reform. He noted that they would require upgradation of expertise in the key ministries and their line departments for the productive and effective implementation of the reforms.

The two sides also discussed the implementation and optimization of the initiatives in regional cooperation both under the Economic Cooperation Organization and South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC).

It was agreed that the recent SAARC declaration needed to be leveraged to enhance cooperation among the member countries towards poverty alleviation and capacity building, SAFTA and the Social Charter were particularly discussed in this context.

Mr Pasha assured all possible cooperation in this regard. Mr Aziz also stated that Pakistan was keen to achieve the millennium development goals. It was also agreed that the UNDP would discuss through its local representative in Pakistan to move further in this direction.

The cooperation among the ECO member countries was also discussed that there was unanimity of views that increase potential could be realized in trade and development. Mr Pasha offered UNDP assistance in this regard as well.

It was agreed that first step in this direction was the establishment of the ECO Development Bank and the UNDP will help finalize the feasibility study. The meeting was attended by Dr Waqar Masood Khan, secretary, economic affairs division, and senior officials of the finance ministry. -APP