ISLAMABAD: The UK will provide £41.5 million in bilateral Official Development Assistance (ODA) to Pakistan for the year 2023-24 for family planning, girls’ education, investment and trade, a statement from the British High Commission said on Tuesday.

The new Pakistan Country Development Partnership Summary (CDPS), published by UK’s Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, showed an indicative ODA budget of £133 million for the financial year 2024-25.

According to the statement, 56 per cent of the programmes under the CDPS are primarily or significantly geared towards promoting gender equality, and 26pc of the programmes are primarily or significantly focused on disability inclusion.

The statement mentioned that the CDPS also covered programming under the UK’s Conflict Stability and Security Fund which underpins UK-Pak co-operation on organised crime, regional stability and hate speech.

The budgeted expenditure for 2023 to 2024 includes top three bilateral aid programmes which are delivering accelerated family planning in Pakistan (DAFPAK); girls and out-of-school action for learning (GOAL) and revenue mobilisation, investment and trade (REMIT).

Published in Dawn, July 19th, 2023