ISLAMABAD, Jan 27: Four agencies of the United Nations on Tuesday signed agreements with Pakistan to provide $430 million for a five-year country programme action plan, to help achieve millennium development goals.

The agreements were signed by the country representatives of the four UN-agencies namely UNDP, UNFPA, UNICEF and WFP and secretary economic affairs division Dr Waqar Masud Khan here on Tuesday.

Under the 2004-08 programme, the UNDP would extend $180 million, followed by $126 by Unicef, $78 million by World Food Programme and $46 million from the UNFPA.

Finance Minister Shaukat Aziz told newsmen after the signing ceremony that the entire amount would come from the UN-family as a grant facility to put in place a comprehensive framework over a medium-term period to support Pakistan's development, pro-poor and growth programmes.

He said the programmes would cover areas like pro-poor development, growth, access to justice, gender development, population control, improvement of child health and nutrition and education sectors.

He said the government has already launched some targeted programmes for poverty reduction and rural development with increased allocations and the grant facility would assist such programmes.

The country representative of UNDP Onder Yucer said the grant was part of the country programme action plan (CPAP) already finalised by the four agencies. Under the action plans, the UNDP would make poverty reduction the core objective of all activity and will focus on innovative and alternative pro-poor development approaches. It will assist Pakistan in strengthening and stabilising the reforms initiatives, particularly those with direct links to devolution and community empowerment.

The UNFPA aims to improve the reproductive health status of the people, leading towards population stabilisation. The strategic focus for UNFPA will remain on reducing maternal mortality and fertility rates.