Italy commits 20.5 million euro for economic development in Gilgit-Baltistan

ISLAMABAD: The Government of Pakistan and Italy signed on Thursday an agreement under which the latter would provide 20.5 million euro for infrastructural support, capacity building and technical assistance for the value chain of key agricultural products to the benefit of rural communities of Gilgit-Baltistan.

Secretary Economic Affairs Division Noor Ahmed and Ambassador of Italy in Pakistan Stefano Pontecorvo signed the agreement.

Minister for Economic Affairs Hammad Azhar witnessed the signing of the agreement in Islamabad.

Under the Economic Transformation Initiatives (ETI) programme, the Government of Italian Republic will provide infrastructural support, capacity building and technical assistance for the value chain of key agricultural products to the benefit of rural communities of Gilgit-Baltistan.

Gilgit-Baltistan is a remote mountainous region with less population and comparatively higher incidence of poverty.

Agriculture productivity is generally low due to poor access to quality inputs, huge post-harvest losses (45% for apricot and 10% for potato), lack of local processing and value addition and poor access to markets.

Economic Transformation Initiatives (ETI) Gilgit-Baltistan is the largest development programme of the Gilgit-Baltistan government.

International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) is providing USD 76 million over a period of 7 years.

The Italian government agreed to join hands with IFAD providing a soft loan of Euro 20.5 million to be utilised for financing the programme activities. The objective of this programme is a substantial increase in irrigated crop areas and production and improved connectivity with markets through investments in economic infrastructure.

This programme will improve incomes and reduce poverty and malnutrition in rural areas of Gilgit-Baltistan region benefitting around 100,000 rural households.

The minister thanked the Italian government for providing this financial facility for the betterment of the people of Gilgit-Baltistan.

He said the government appreciates financial cooperation from Italy and looks forward to strengthening bilateral relations in future specifically after the Joint Economic Commission in October 2019.