UKAID to focus Pakistan next year: UK official

KARACHI: Pakistan will be the biggest development programme partner of UKAID next year, said Andrew Mitchells, UK Secretary of State for Department of International Development (DFID).

"The biggest development partnership programme that Britain will have next year in the world will be in Pakistan and it is designed to help children get into schools," he said after inaugurating a mobile banking franchise of private mobile telephone company here in cooperation with Tameer-e-Pakistan Microfinance Bank.

"In Karachi the chance to get into school by a child is difficult than any other city in the world and Britain is committed to work with Pakistan to ensure 4 million children to get into schools, particularly in Karachi, in the next 4 years," he maintained.

The British Secretary said the DFID was also providing assistance here in health care and he visited a health care centre here and he found lady health workers to be doing a brilliant job of vaccination and other services to the women in Karachi.

He said Britain will be working with the government of Pakistan in education, health, economy, democracy and governance.

Besides, he said the UK will get some 2 million more girls into school; prevent 3,600 women dying in childbirth, help 0.4 million couples choose how many children they should have; help around 0.9 million women access to financial services such as micro-loans and support legislation protecting women on land rights, marriage rights and domestic violence.

Earlier, talking about 'Easypaisa' branchless banking service here, Andrew Mitchell said in Pakistan more than half the adult population and two-thirds of women, do not have bank accounts or access to financial services.

"The UK supported the mobile banking with initial seed money of dollars 1 million and the use of innovative mobile phone technology is aimed to empower poor people to pay bills and transfer money to their families in rural areas and the UK will help further expand it to three million more people over the next few years," he pointed out.

"It is a fantastic way to help poor people to access financial services and British tax-payers money has been involved to design development programmes in Pakistan," he further maintained.

Speaking on the occasion, the CEO of Tameer Microfinance Bank, Nadeem Hussain, said that easypaisa, launched with the assistance of UKAID has registered Rs10 billion worth of transactions per month which will be expanded to Rs12 billion next year.

"Average per month transactions will grow by Rs1.5 billion by end of the year," he said.

To a question, he said that the mobile banking will also reduce the 'Hawala business' to a great extent over the period of time, as all the transactions are fully computerised.

Copyright APP (Associated Press of Pakistan), 2011