News
Friday, November 02, 2012
US for improving economic activities in KP, FATA: Hoagland* US envoy pledges to help KP officials increase educational and economic opportunities
Staff Report
PESHAWAR: US Deputy Chief of Mission in Pakistan Ambassador Richard Hoagland affirmed on Thursday the importance of the US-Pakistan relationship and highlighted his government’s assistance to Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and FATA, including projects to rebuild infrastructure and livelihoods in the region during his recent visit to Peshawar.
In a series of meetings, Ambassador Hoagland told KP Governor Masud Kausar and Chief Minister Ameer Haider Hoti that the US was committed “to helping Pakistan become a secure, economically vibrant and stable democracy and looks forward, with Pakistan, to the day that assistance is no longer needed”, a press statement from the US Consulate read.
Ambassador Hoagland also detailed US assistance to the region, which has “built more than 470 kilometres of roads, launched more than 2,000 community-based projects, provided clean drinking water for more than two million residents in the FATA” and pledged to help local officials increase educational and economic opportunities and reconnect the region to the rest of Pakistan.
A statement, meanwhile, from the Chief Minister’s House read that CM Hoti told the US delegation that people of KP had paid “a huge price” in the war against terrorism and were still doing so. He said that establishment of peace in FATA and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa was “impossible without stability and peace in Afghanistan” as normalcy in both the countries was inter-linked.
Hoti was quoted as saying that terrorism was not limited to a particular area rather the problem had engulfed the whole region and the people were confronting same situation and challenges.
Courtesy www.dailytimes.com.pk