Cooperation: Pakistan, new post-flood aid

Rome: Italy has launched a new aid package for the north western Pakistani areas hit by last year’s floods, with the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding aimed at disbursing another €3 million within the context of the MFA programme of collaboration with the Pakistani government.

The MoU was signed by Ambassador of Italy to Islamabad Vincenzo Prati and Director General of the Authority for the Management of Natural Disasters (PDMA) of the province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Shakeel Qadir Khan.

This approximately €3 million programme is aimed mainly at rehabilitating farmlands and will be managed by a group of Italian NGOs under the leadership and supervision of the government.

At the ceremony’s end Ambassador Prati hailed the fact that Pakistani agriculture had recovered from the flooding in only a few months. “These programmes are important”, he said, “because they allow the people to get back on their feet and recuperate a subsistence economy. Our aim”, he concluded, “is to help the Pakistanis to gain access to the market in order to turn agriculture into a factor not only of survival but also of profit”.

The Italian Cooperation programme has a current portfolio of €205 million, used for projects (agriculture, rural development, education, health and infrastructure) for the most part carried out by or in close cooperation with the Pakistani government and provinces. Approximately €80 million of that total is being used for post-flood initiatives.

For more information, contact:
Presidenza del Consiglio dei ministri
Palazzo Chigi
Piazza Colonna 370
00187 Roma – Italy
Tel: +39 0667791