December 17, 2006	Sunday	Ziqa'ad 25, 1427

ISLAMABAD, Dec 16: The Pakistan government and the World Bank (WB) on Saturday signed an agreement to convert $41.61 million credit the former had taken from the International Development Association (IDA) into grant.

The Melinda and Bill Gates Foundation will reimburse this amount to the WB discharging the government of Pakistan of its payment obligations and all liabilities.

The agreement was signed by Secretary Economic Affairs Division M Akram Malik and John Wall, country director WB, here at the Economic Affairs Division.

The overall objective of the project was to support the government’s efforts to eradicate polio from the country. The Polio Eradication Initiative project had been a major national effort since 1994, an official announcement said.

It added that the programme’s achievement was reflected in declining number of polio cases from tens of thousands per year in 1980s to 34 cases as on November 2005. The IDA, it added, was supporting the polio eradication initiative in partnership with technical agencies - Unicef and the World Health Organisation (WHO) and several other development partners.