The Government of Japan has agreed to extend grant assistance to the Government of Pakistan for two programs. These programs include “the Economic and Social Development Programme”, with a grant worth $4.7 million approximately, and for “the Project for Improvement of Airport Security (Phase 2)” worth $22.5 million.
On March 27, the signing for the projects took place between Takashi Harada, Chargé d’Affaires ad interim of the Embassy of Japan and Syed Ghazanfar Abbas Jilani, the Secretary of Economic Affairs Division (EAD) in Islamabad.
The grant for “the Economic and Social Development Programme” will be used to procure equipment for meteorological observation. It will enable the Pakistan Meteorological Department (PMD) to improve the accuracy of weather forecasts and to disseminate the early warnings for climate disaster.
The second project, for which the E/N documents were signed today, “the Project for Improvement of Airport Security (Phase 2)” is a follow-up of the grant aid signed in 2013. Through the second phase project, Japan will provide the Pakistan Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) with security equipment for screening of check-in baggage, hand baggage and vehicles at Karachi, Faisalabad, Multan and the New Islamabad International Airports, while the phase one project provided security equipment for Karachi, Lahore and Islamabad airports.
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This equipment embraces the latest technologies and matches international security standards that have been set by the United States and the European Union. By installing this equipment, the risk of security related incidents at the four airports will be reduced, and operation of the airports will be improved.
Yasuhiro Tojo, Chief Representative of JICA Pakistan office, said that this project will support the Government of Pakistan to achieve the key objective of the National Aviation Policy 2015 which is “to improve the governance and oversight for the compliance of ICAO standards of aviation safety, security and efficiency” in Pakistan.
Takashi Harada, the acting Japanese Ambassador, added that:
“We appreciate the tireless efforts of the Government of Pakistan for the socio-economic development and the improvement of the security situation.” He further emphasized that the two grants from Japan will support the work of the Government of Pakistan and would strengthen the existing bond of friendship between the two countries.
