New US assistance for Pakistan

After the bilateral Strategic Dialogue meeting in Islamabad on July 19, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton announced several government-to-government partnerships with Pakistan that will strengthen cooperation in new information technologies, enhance mutual understanding between our diplomats and support the preservation of Pakistan’s national heritage. The projects include:

• Information Systems Data Center: The U.S. will work in partnership with the Ministry of Information Technology to deploy a Tier IV data storage and information systems service delivery platform for the Government of Pakistan – enabling common email, word processing, standard data exchange and other business process applications. The project will enable, for the first time, a Pakistan government-exclusive e-mail domain and will enable centralized hosting of all government web sites. The adoption of common applications will enable paperless working, enhanced government accountability and audit capability and government – to – business and government – to - citizen services.

• Electronic Citizen Services: The U.S. will work in partnership with the Ministry of Information Technology to launch a set of electronic citizen services to enable Pakistani citizens to engage their government for common public services using broadband and mobile phones messages. The initial group of four or five services will bring government – citizen interaction into the electronic era, yield both cost and time saving.

• Pakistan Broadcasting Corporation – Historic Archives Preservation: In partnership with the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, the U.S. will support the digitization and professional archiving of Radio Pakistan’s music library. The Pakistan Broadcasting Corporation’s sound archives is a repository of priceless recordings documenting the nation’s history and culture. Two million minutes of archives currently held on degrading magnetic tape will be digitized for access, with materials including the recorded speeches of Pakistan’s founder, M.A. Jinnah, former Presidents and Prime Ministers and pioneers of the Independence movement as well as interviews with celebrities, historians, scientists, intellectuals and music from all regions of Pakistan.

• Historic Preservation – Sheikhupura Fort, Southern Punjab: The U.S. Ambassador’s Fund for Cultural Preservation has agreed to support a three-year project with the Ministry of Culture to restore, conserve and protect the Sheikhupura Fort in Punjab. The site incorporates architectural and cultural elements from both the Mughul and Sikh eras and dates back to the early 17th century. In addition to highlighting Mughul architecture, the Fort also houses prime examples of Sikh fresco work in the Punjab.

• Foreign Service Scholarship Program: In partnership with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the U.S. will contribute to strengthen mutual understanding between our diplomats and provide advanced professional training for Pakistani Foreign Service officers in the United States. The United States and Pakistan will support four scholarships for Pakistani Foreign Service officers to attend American university programs in international relations and diplomacy for one year in a program managed by our bilateral Fulbright Commission, the U.S. Educational Foundation in Pakistan. Pakistan’s entry-level Foreign Service officers will also participate in a U.S. study tour.

 

 

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U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE

Office of the Spokesman

 

FACT SHEET

 

The United States Announces the U.S.-Pakistan Gender Equity Program

 

After the bilateral Strategic Dialogue meeting in Islamabad today, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton announced a new five-year, $40 million Gender Equity Program to be funded by USAID aimed at advancing women’s rights and empowerment in Pakistan by:

• Expanding women’s access to justice;

• Helping women exercise their rights in the workplace, community, and home;

• Combating gender-based violence; and,

• Strengthening the capacity of Pakistani organizations that advocate for gender equality, women’s empowerment and the elimination of gender-based violence.

 

The U.S. has already committed $12.5 million for this program and nationwide grant-making is expected to begin in August. Grantees will include non-governmental organizations, community-based organizations, policy think tanks, academic research and training institutions, professional and business associations, media, civic advocacy organizations, civil society coalitions, as well as partnerships with relevant government or quasi-government entities addressing women’s equality and empowerment.

 

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U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE

Office of the Spokesman

 

FACT SHEET

 

The United States Announces Humanitarian and Post-Conflict Assistance

 

After the bilateral Strategic Dialogue meeting in Islamabad today, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton announced $120 million for four programs to assist Pakistanis affected by conflict to re-establish their lives in their home areas. The United States is the leading foreign donor for displaced Pakistanis and the additional humanitarian assistance announced today further demonstrates continuing U.S. support and commitment to the people of Pakistan.

 

• Malakand Housing – An estimated 23,000 housing units have been damaged or destroyed by fighting in the Federally Administered Tribal Area and Khyber-Paktunkhwa. The U.S. will provide $65 million to the Government of Pakistan’s cash transfer program to assist families whose homes have been fully or partially damaged.
  

• Multi-Donor Trust Fund for the Northwest Border Region – To support local and provincial government reconstruction efforts in FATA, Khyber-Paktunkhwa, and conflict-affected parts of Balochistan, the U.S. will provide $25 million to the World Bank-administered Multi-Donor Trust Fund for the Northwest Border Region. The Fund was created following the Friends of Democratic Pakistan Summit last September. The U.S. contribution brings the total pledges or contributions to $130 million from nine countries.
  

• World Food Programme (WFP) – To provide food rations for 75,000 newly displaced families or about 450,000 individual beneficiaries between August and December 2010, the U.S. will provide $20 million in additional funding to the WFP, bringing total U.S. contributions to WFP-Pakistan to just under $100 million this year.

 

• United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) – To assist the UNHCR in providing emergency shelter and non-food items, camp coordination, management and protection activities, the U.S. will provide $10 million. These supplies will help support the 1.4 million Pakistanis who remain displaced due to the on-going conflict, host families who have supported displaced Pakistanis during the course of the conflict, and the 1.95 million Pakistanis who have returned home. The new U.S. support for UNHCR will provide non-food items including tents for some 10,000 families. This new contribution will bring total U.S. support for UNHCR in Pakistan to $35 million this year.

 

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U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE

Office of the Spokesman

 

FACT SHEET

 

The United States Announces New Support for Pakistan’s Agriculture

 

After the bilateral Strategic Dialogue meeting in Islamabad today, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton announced a $21 million in USAID-supported projects to boost Pakistan’s agricultural productivity and to open new market opportunities.

• Rural Development Dairy Project: The U.S. will support a public-private partnership designed to improve the status and ability of women to manage agricultural business. The program will focus on providing technical training for Pakistani women to manage dairy-related enterprises and do business both domestically and internationally. Although located in southern Punjab, the program is expected to have as many as 16,000 beneficiaries throughout the country.

 

• Mango Export Project: To promote the export by sea of Pakistan’s world famous mangos, the U.S. will support a three year infrastructure program in partnership with leading mango farms in southern Punjab and northern Sindh to jointly finance infrastructure such as hot water treatment facilities, sorting and grading machines, blast chiller, and cold storage facilities. On June 15, the U.S. began the process that will allow for trial shipments of Pakistani mangos to the U.S. later this year.

 

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U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE

Office of the Spokesman

 

FACT SHEET

 

The United States Announces New Support for Pakistan’s Private Sector

 

After the bilateral Strategic Dialogue meeting in Islamabad today, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton announced a series of programs to promoting broad-based and private sector-led economic growth and job creation for the people of Pakistan in support of the government’s economic reform program. The programs will be administered by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), the Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC), the Department of Commerce, and the U.S. Trade & Development Agency (USTDA).

 

• JSPE Private Equity Fund II: To support a private equity investment fund designed to invest in companies in Pakistan that could benefit from technological upgrades OPIC will provide $50 million toward the JS Private Equity Fund II LLC, which has a target capitalization of $150 million. The fund will invest in companies which have unrealized growth potential that either have technology at the core of their business, or can improve efficiency and profitability by upgrading existing technologies.

 

• Small and Medium Enterprise Access to Finance Program: To expand the ability of small and medium sized enterprises to access credit through local commercial banks, with the facilitation of the State Bank of Pakistan, USAID will provide $100 million over five years. This program will improve the availability of financing for private sector entrepreneurs and create jobs throughout Pakistan, with a focus on less economically advanced regions of the country.

 

• Trade Mission to Pakistan: The U.S. will organize and sponsor a visit by American business leaders to Pakistan. The Trade Mission will be aimed at facilitating new business ties between American and Pakistani firms with the objective of creating new economic opportunities in both countries.

 

• Trade Information Gateway Real-Time Exchange for the Port of Karachi: To track the movement of cargo between ships, port operators, truckers, rail systems, and customers at the Karachi port, USTDA will establish a study and pilot project to assess the viability and application of Trade Information Gateway Real-Time Exchange (TIGRE) software.
  
  

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U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE

Office of the Spokesman

 

FACT SHEET

 

The United States Announces the Signature Water Program for Pakistan

 

After the bilateral Strategic Dialogue meeting in Islamabad today, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton announced a multi-year Signature Water Program for Pakistan to improve Pakistan’s ability to increase efficient management and use of its scarce water resources and improve water distribution. The first phase of the program will cover seven projects costing over $270 million:

 

• Jacobabad and Peshawar Municipal Water Projects – The U.S. will work with the two cities over five years to rehabilitate or construct water storage, supply, distribution, and metering systems and improve the water services delivery management capacity of the Northern Sindh Utility Services Corporation and the Government of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa.

 

• Municipal Services Delivery – The U.S. will conduct a five-year national program to improve the capacity of local authorities to manage public services, including the provision of potable safe water, sanitation and solid waste collection and disposal, as well as other basic municipal services. Scheduled to begin in August in southern Punjab, the program will target 42 vulnerable districts and 139 municipalities that have a combined population of over 50 million.

 

• Gomal Zam Dam Irrigation Project – When completed, this project connected to the new energy-producing dam will store water to irrigate 190,000 acres in South Waziristan, Tank, and Dera Ismail Khan to control flooding, preventing an estimated $2.6 million annually in damages, and enhance agricultural opportunities for approximately 30,000 farming families.

 

• Satpara Dam Irrigation Project – This project, located in Skardu, Gilgit-Baltistan, connected to the new energy-producing dam will help improve irrigation for 15,500 acres of land and provide 3.1 million gallons of clean drinking water daily for Skardu’s 280,000 local residents.

 

• High Efficiency Irrigation Project – This three-year project will introduce improved irrigation technologies on over 250,000 acres of land in all four provinces, Gilgit-Baltistan, Azad Jammu Kashmir (AJK) and the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA). In each location, the project will substantially reduce water use – increasing crop yields 30-100% – and reducing fertilizer and pesticide use.

 

• Balochistan Water Storage Dams – This project will support plans by the Government of Balochistan to create a series of water storage dams and will enhance existing programs for irrigation water storage and distribution while also promoting watershed management and integrated crop management.

• Expert Consultations – The United States will fund a professional exchange visit by Pakistani experts in water management to the U.S. to meet with counterparts and to examine cost recovery and policy mechanisms that incentivize private sector investment in the water sector.

 

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U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE

Office of the Spokesman

 

FACT SHEET

 

The United States Announces Signature Health Program

 

After the bilateral Strategic Dialogue meeting in Islamabad today, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton announced the first phase of a three-year, $28 million Signature Health Program for Pakistan. The U.S. and Pakistan have consulted closely on the shared objectives of addressing Pakistan’s National Health Policy, which outlines the priorities for the nation, which include family planning, maternal and child health, workforce development, and combating infectious diseases to meet the Millennium Development Goals. Under the new Signature Health Program, the U.S. will undertake three projects for the renovation and construction of medical facilities:

 

• Karachi Jinnah Post Graduate Medical Center – The U.S. will finance the design and construction of a 60-bed obstetrics and gynecology surgical and fistula ward and a training institute for up to 150 under- and post-graduate medical students. The hospital handles more than 18,000 inpatients, 31,000 outpatients, more than 5,000 operations and 17,000 annual deliveries.

 

• Lahore Lady Willingdon Hospital: This facility, which is the largest maternity hospital in Pakistan, is currently operating well over capacity with on average roughly three women to a bed. The renovated facilities will include new wards, a midwifery school and doctor/nursing hostels.

 

• Jacobabad Civil Hospital: The U.S. will provide technical management assistance and renovations to the Jacobabad Civil Hospital, a 162-bed facility which serves a population of approximately 1 million people in Northern Sindh and Balochistan. The hospital serves about 700 outpatients per day, with about 4500 surgeries and more than 2000 deliveries per year.

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U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE

Office of the Spokesman

FACT SHEET

The United States Announces Phase II of the Signature Energy Program for Pakistan

After the bilateral Strategic Dialogue meeting in Islamabad today, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton announced Phase II of the U.S. Signature Energy Program for Pakistan that will provide an additional $60 million for seven projects to be implemented by USAID, the U.S. Trade & Development Agency (USTDA), the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), and the U.S. Department of Commerce.

• Gomal Zam Dam – The U.S. will finish a new dam, power house, and transmission components in South Waziristan to provide an additional 17.4 MW of generation capacity to the national grid and electrify 25,000 households serving 200,000 people and have flood control, irrigation and water supply benefits.
  

• Satpara Dam – The U.S. will finish a new dam and power house in Skardu, Gilgit-Baltistan territory, to provide 17.36 MW of new power and energy to the local grid. The project will also have drinking water benefits.

• Natural Gas Assistance – U.S. agencies will assist in identifying and furthering the development of Pakistan’s natural gas resources in order to provide long-term supply security for its electric power plants. U.S. assistance will help Pakistan improve its legal, regulatory, policy and fiscal regime in order to attract greater investment to develop those resources. The U.S. will also invite Pakistan to join the U.S. Global Shale Gas Initiative.
  

• Smart Grid and Distribution Modernization Feasibility Study – Working with the Karachi Electric Supply Company, the U.S. will conduct a study to determine the viability of an integrated Smart Grid system in Karachi. The project includes the potential for a large Smart Grid pilot project that could help reduce the utility’s electricity losses estimated to reach as high as 40 percent.

• Biomass-Fueled Boiler Feasibility Study for Bulleh Shah Paper Mill – The U.S. will conduct a feasibility study to determine the best option to convert paper and agriculture waste to energy at Packages Limited’s Bulleh Shah paper mill in Kasur, Punjab.
  

• Gharo Corridor 50MW Wind Farm feasibility study – The U.S. will conduct a feasibility study to determine the technical, economic, and financial viability of a 50 MW wind power pilot project on behalf of Engro Power. The effort includes preparations for an international competitive tender for wind power engineering, procurement, and construction.
  

• Beaconhouse Schools Solar PV Power Supply feasibility Study – The U.S. will conduct a study to assess the technical, economic, and financial feasibility of installing solar photovoltaic (PV) power systems at hundreds of private schools administered by the Beaconhouse Group and owned by Educational Services Limited, the largest private educational services company in Pakistan.

Secretary Clinton announced Phase I of the Signature Energy Program during her October 2009 visit to Pakistan. The Signature Energy Program for Pakistan is designed to help Pakistan meet its energy needs through increasing electricity production and promoting the more efficient usage of electricity. Phase I of the Pakistan Signature Energy Program provided $125 million for six projects. Implementation of these projects is currently underway:

• Generator windings and other spare parts have been ordered to increase the capacity and reliability of Tarbela Dam Hydroelectric Station;

• Equipment is being procured for the rehabilitation of thermal power plants at Jamshoro, Guddu and Muzaffargah to increase the capacity, reliability, and efficiency of the facilities;

• The first 1,000 agricultural tube well pumps have been replaced near Multan, in a program that will reach 11,000 tube wells and substantially increase the efficiency of electricity used in agriculture;

• Work has begun with the electricity distribution companies in Peshawar, Hyderabad, Quetta and Multan to help them improve service, reduce losses and become more efficient.