ISLAMABAD, Dec 13: President Pervez Musharraf said on Monday that the initiatives taken by the government was having far-reaching effects on poverty reduction but asked the private sector to join hands in expanding micro finance outreach to maximum poor households.

"We have adopted a holistic strategy and already our initiatives, including mega development projects and small programmes at the grassroots level, are contributing substantially to reducing poverty both in urban and rural areas," he told a conference on "Micro finance in Pakistan, innovating and mainstreaming".

The president informed the gathering that the world also needed to fight poverty at a larger level, through concerted UN efforts and addressing debt service liabilities of developing nations.

"The world needs to tackle the rising levels of the menace in poor nations. Developing nations also need to put their houses in order," he said. He said increased trade between regional countries would also be helpful in ameliorating the lot of the poor.

He said the government was focusing on arresting poverty through job creation in agricultural and industrial sectors, as well as enabling the poorest of the poor to stand up on their feet through micro finance credit.

"Our objective is to alleviate poverty through acceleration of economic growth, development of human resources, creation of jobs and targeted poverty interventions through micro finance," he said.

The president, however, emphasized that the private sector would also have to complement these efforts by setting up more financial institutions for greater outreach and financial capacity.

"Pakistan is targeting to reach out its six million poor households through micro credit facilities as part of its drive to create economic opportunities for the deprived and neglected segment."

President Musharraf said economy had been put on sound footing with a robust industrial growth of 18pc in the last financial year, under construction water reservoirs, the booming IT sector, infrastructure and road networks. -APP