UAE Ambassador to Pakistan Hamad Obaid Ibrahim Salem Al-Zaabi has recently revealed that the United Arab Emirates-Pakistan Assistance Program (UAE-PAP) is working on more than 100 large scale projects in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) and Balochistan primarily focusing on education and health care sectors. He said this while talking to a local media outlet.
The UAE-PAP was launched in January 2011 with the objective of providing help and humanitarian assistance to the people of Pakistan and supports their development initiatives for a better future. The program’s third phase complements the previous two phases in which 165 development and humanitarian projects were completed at the cost of $365 million.
Al-Zaabi said one of the main projects of UAE-PAP was to eradicate polio in Pakistan, though there were also several others programs to improve the country’s water and agriculture sectors.
Many UAE’s charity institutes, such as Sheikh Muhammad bin Rashid, Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed, and Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan foundations, are also managing several projects in Pakistan building hospitals, medical clinics, mobile clinics and schools in remote areas of Muzaffarabad.
Al-Zaabi was recently awarded the “UAE Medal of Pride” for enhancing bilateral relations between Abu Dhabi and Islamabad by building new partnerships and broadening the scope of economic and trade cooperation in all areas of common interest between both the countries.
