EU to support capacity building of legislators

Envoy Androulla says €9m would be allocated for the purpose

ISLAMABAD:

EU Ambassador to Pakistan Androulla Kaminara has said that the European Union (EU) continued to support Islamabad in its efforts to strengthen good governance in the country.

To materialize the concept of good governance, the EU would fund a parliamentary project for capacity building of Pakistan's legislators, she noted.

Androulla maintained that the EU would allocate €9 million, which would be used to strengthen the functioning of public service offices in terms of building up capacity regarding the parliamentary core mandates of legislation, oversight, budget and representation.

The three-year project, to be implemented by the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) in collaboration with the Pakistan Institute for Parliamentary Services (PIPS), would work with the National Assembly, Senate and four provincial assemblies of Punjab, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, Sindh and Balochistan, she said.

Read EU to provide €9m to support parliamentary development

"The EU has been a steadfast supporter of democratic progress in Pakistan for many years and with today's signature, we enter the most ambitious phase of our support yet, focusing, for the first time, assemblies at the national and provincial levels at the same time. Good governance is the backbone of human and democratic development and plays a crucial role in poverty alleviation."

The envoy said the new project would respond to the priorities of the EU-Pakistan Strategic Engagement Plan 2019, specifically to the joint priority "Democracy, Rule of Law, Good Governance and Human Rights" and had been financed under the EU's development cooperation priorities from 2014-2020.

Both strategic roadmaps supported the implementation of the Vision 2025 and helped achieve the Strategic Development Goals (SDGs) set by the United Nations in its Agenda 2030, she added.
Androulla said the EU would continue to support Pakistan in its efforts to tackle poverty, increase education, promote good governance, rule of law and ensure sustainable management of natural resources.

She lauded the services rendered by both GIZ Pakistan and PIPS for capacity building in the national institutions and expressed her satisfaction in launching the project.