Cooperation: ‘USAID helped generate 1,750MW’

SAHIWAL: More than 19 million Pakistanis have benefitted from USAID’s efforts, since 2011, to add more than 1,750 megawatts (MW) of electricity to the national grid, United States Lahore Consul General Zachary Harkenrider said on Monday. He was speaking at the residence of Zakat and Ushr Minister Malik Nadeem Kamran. Referring to the USAID Dairy Project at COMSATS, Sahiwal, Harkenrider said that the US had been helping Pakistanis secure a prosperous future by increasing household incomes and employment, nurturing small and medium enterprise and promoting a vibrant agriculture sector. The consul general said that the Sahiwal dairy project had helped upgrade 100 dairy farms to serve as service and supply hubs.  The project has created 7,700 jobs and trained 49,000 small dairy farmers and 6,000 female livestock extension workers.  “We look forward to continued cooperation and welcome your suggestions for ways to continue to work together,” he said. Regarding his visit to Harappa, he said, “Harappa is one of the most significant sites of early human history; it speaks to our shared origins.”

Published in The Express Tribune, February 23^rd, 2016.