October 04, 2007	Thursday	Ramazan 21, 1428

ISLAMABAD, Oct 3: Pakistan Post and the First Micro Finance Bank (FMFB) have joined hands for poverty alleviation to provide small loans to the rural and urban poor through the expansive network of the postal department.

A formal agreement was signed between the Pakistan Post and the First Micro Finance Bank according to which, the postal department will allow the bank to use its network of about 12,000 post offices for providing micro-finance services.

This public-private partnership will increase access to quality microfinance services for the poor and vulnerable segments of the population, especially women. The alliance will provide an opportunity to both partners to expand their social services and also increase their finances.

The agreement was signed at a ceremony at the prime minister’s secretariat, attended by minister for communication, Muhammad Shamim Siddiqui, director general Pakistan Post Arshad Khan, governor state bank Shamshad Akhtar and other high-ranking officials of the postal department and FMFB.

Speaking on the occasion, DG Pakistan Post dilated upon the potential of the mail department which, in past, was considered only a letter-sending organization.

He said that with the cooperation of the federal minister, it had been geared up to revamp the organization to meet new challenges.

The key objective is to transform it into an efficient, modern and customer-friendly organization, while providing postal and financial services at affordable rates, he noted. For this, all post offices have been computerised and new services were being introduced, he added.