ISLAMABAD, Jan 14: The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) on Wednesday launched a trade project of $2 million in Pakistan to advance national progress in human development and poverty eradication.

The project titled "trade initiatives from Human Development Perspective" was signed by UNDP representative, Onder Yucer and secretary of economic affairs division, Waqar Masood here on Wednesday.

According to an official announcement, the project was aimed at assisting the Ministry of Commerce in ensuring that the country could strategically seize the opportunities of global economic and trade integration for advancing national progress in human development and poverty eradication.

The project would also assist the ministry in ensuring the participation of different stakeholders including concerned public sector, civil society, private sector, media, research and academic organizations involved in WTO issues. UNDP will support this process of partnership building through the consultative platform provided by this project.

The co-relation between export performance and employment, especially in Pakistan means that policy for trade should take consideration of human development indicators.