A seminar on National Security in Perspective of Balochistan was held at Balochistan University of Info & Tech & Mgmt Sciences (BUITEMS), Quetta in which Lt Gen Sarfraz Ali Commander 12 Corps participated as chief guest.
Following panelists briefed participants including, Dr Mir Sadaat Baloch, Quetta, Dr Manzoor Ahmed, CPEC Coord of Bln, Dr Farhan Hanif, QAU Isb, Dr Rashid Ahmed, NDU Isb, Abdullah Khan, Secy P&D Bln.
During Question and Answers session Lt Gen Sarfraz Ali highlighted role of youth in Balochistan development and urged them to think as a strong community aimed to improve social and economic condition of Balochistan.
Millions face economic challenges in Afghanistan: UNDP
Afghan Desk
Kabul
The United Nations Development Program (UNDP) in Afghanistan has expressed concern over the poor economic situation of the Afghan people, saying that millions of people in the country are facing economic challenges.
The head of the UNDP in Afghanistan said he does not consider humanitarian aid to Afghanistan sufficient and emphasizes that without economic development, Afghanistan will not be stable.
“Humanitarian operations, although very important, are not sufficient and we need to focus on people’s livelihoods, and the reason why we need to focus on people’s livelihoods is, simply, we have millions of people today who are on the verge of economic collapse in addition to the millions of who are already suffering from the humanitarian situation and challenges. We would like to say clearly that if you want to reduce the humanitarian load in Afghanistan, we have to work on livelihoods,” said Abdallah Al Dardari, UNDP resident representative in Afghanistan.
The head of the UNDP in Afghanistan said that the organization is working to meet the living needs of the people.
Meanwhile, the World Food Program (WFP) on Twitter announced the continuation of humanitarian aid to Afghanistan.
The World Food Program (WFP) says it continues to help people in need across Afghanistan, helping 900,000 people in Badakhshan in the past three months alone.
Officials at the Ministry of Economy say that they are working to boost small businesses with domestic investment.
“We are successful in attracting foreign investment as well as foreign institutions, and at the domestic level we are trying to create and strengthen small businesses with domestic investment,” said Abdul Latif Nazari, Deputy Minister of Economy.
“The world should interact with Afghanistan, economic sanctions should be removed, Afghanistan’s foreign reserves should be removed, and World Bank-funded development projects should be resumed to create jobs and solve the liquidity problem,” said Abdul Nasir Rashtia, an economist.
According to UN figures, 23 million people in Afghanistan are currently starving and 95% of Afghans do not have enough food to eat three times in 24 hours.
The project is intended to help some “2.9 million households” across Afghanistan. The REACH project will complement a parallel relief effort organized under the Citizens’ Charter Afghanistan Project.
Together, both will cover 90 percent of households in the country under the government’s “Dastarkhan-e-Milli” program, benefitting an estimated 4.1 million households with incomes of $2 a day or less, according to the statement.
A $100 million grant will fund the Emergency Agriculture and Food Supply Project (EATS). The grant is comprised of $55 million from IDA and will be complemented by $45 million from the ARTF. The project aims to improve food security by increasing local food production and strengthening critical commercial food supply chains, especially wheat, which is the staple crop for over 70 percent of the Afghan population.
The project is intended to provide short-term employment in rural areas in the development of productive assets such as irrigation schemes.
The statement notes: “In rural areas, measures to prevent the spread of COVID-19 have disrupted farming, leaving Afghan farmers unable to sow their crops on time, while in urban areas food prices are rising with shortages of food supply becoming more urgent.”
