Zubair Qureshi
The Government of Japan has announced grant aid worth around 322 million Japanese Yen (US$3 million) for the Human Resource Development Scholarship (JDS) Programme in Pakistan.
This was announced during a signing ceremony here Thursday that was attended by Charge d’ Affaires, Embassy of Japan in Pakistan Yusuke Shindo, and Secretary, Economic Affairs Division (EAD) Noor Ahmed.
A grant agreement on the details of implementation of the project for fiscal year 2019 was signed and exchanged between Chief Representative of Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) Shigeki Furuta, and Joint Secretary, EAD Adil Akbar Khan. The programme was introduced first time to Pakistan in 2018 and its main objective is to strengthen the administrative capacities of government of Pakistan by providing the opportunity to obtain the Master and Doctor of Philosophy degree to the capable government officers who are involved in formulation and implementation of social and economic development of Pakistan.
The JDS programme is designed to accept four batches of fellow students to Japan in consecutive four years. First batch consists of 18 civil servants who are going to leave Pakistan for Japan in August 2019. The target fields of JDS are Public Administration and Finance, Energy Policy and Implementation, Industrial Promotion, Investment Climate and Trade, Agriculture, Water Resource and Rural Development, Disaster Management Capacity.
Shindo, Charge d’ Affaires Mr Yusuke on this occasion said, “We started this project last year because we believe human resource development, especially that of young civil servants, is key to the development of Pakistan. They are expected to become future leaders of this country. Japan will continue to contribute for the prosperous future of Pakistan. We will also continue to support the education sector in Pakistan, which we believe, is the key sector in Pakistan’s development.”
