Saudi Arabia to provide Rs3 billion equipment to AJK varsity

The government of Saudi Arabia has announced to provide the latest educational equipment worth Rs3 billion to the University of Azad Jammu and Kashmir (UAJK) to further equip the recently completed state-of-the-art King Abdullah campus of the institution.

Saudi Ambassador to Pakistan Nawaf bin Saeed Al-Maliki announced this while addressing an agreement-signing ceremony held at the Kashmir House in Islamabad on Thursday.

Under the agreement, the Saudi Fund for Development (SFD) would provide modern educational instructional kits for the science and IT labs of the King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz Campus of the university.

Speaking on the occasion, Ambassador Maliki said that the important project in education would directly help achieve the sustainable development goals (SDGs) of the United Nations.

He added that the kingdom, through the SFD, has so far provided more than $333 million to implement 23 projects in various parts of Pakistan.

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“Through these grants, quality projects are being completed in the sectors of education, health and infrastructure development besides cooperating with several international organisations, such as the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, the Food Programme, the International Fund for Agricultural Development, and the United Nations Office for Project Services,” he maintained.

Highlighting the brotherly relations between Pakistan and Saudi Arabia, the ambassador hoped that uplift projects being implemented would further strengthen relations between the two countries.

He assured that the government of Saudi Arabia will continue to help Pakistan achieve its development targets in various sectors through the aforesaid fund.

Addressing the participants, former federal minister for science and technology Senator Shibli Faraz thanked the Saudi government for its consistent cooperation in the fields of education and health in Pakistan and Azad Kashmir. “The government and people of Saudi Arabia have always extended invaluable cooperation to Pakistan for which we are indebted to them,” he noted.

He stressed said that the steps taken by the former government to provide quality healthcare facilities to the people on their doorsteps in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa needed to be extended to other provinces of the country.

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Other speakers, AJK Minister for Health Nisar Ansar Abdali and Finance Minister Abdul Majid Khan expressed their profound gratitude to Saudi Arabia for their unforgettable contribution to the relief, rehabilitation and reconstruction of the quake-hit areas of the state.

They, on behalf of the AJK government, thanked the envoy for taking a keen interest in the field of education in the liberated territory.

The state ministers also congratulated Vice Chancellor AJK University Prof Dr Muhammad Kaleem Abbasi and his team for their consistent efforts to get the funding for the uplift of the state’s premier institution of higher learning.

Earlier, in his welcome address, the Vice Chancellor thanked Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, especially the Saudi Fund for Development for providing the generous funding.

He added that the state-of-the-art campus would provide the best educational facility to some 7,000 students of 14 academic departments and institutes to carry out their educational and research ventures.

Earlier, the officials of the SFD and representatives of the UAJK and Health Department of K-P signed an agreement in the presence of the aforesaid dignitaries.