PESHAWAR: US Ambassador to Pakistan Donald Blome on Thursday welcomed the International Monetary Fund’s nine-month stand-by arrangement for Pakistan and said the critical loan would help address the country’s “enormous” economic challenges.

“I do congratulate the government on the efforts it made to reach that point,” the ambassador told reporters here on the occasion of the distribution of $5 million equipment to the KP Board of Revenue to enhance its capacity for accurate land measurement.

He said the signing of Pakistan’s standby accord with the IMF was an important development but there was more work to be done by the country.

Mr Blome said the US was the largest investor in Pakistan as well as the biggest export market for the country.

Blome hands over $5m equipment to KP Board of Revenue

He said the American investment in Pakistan had gone up by 50 per cent last year.

“We see an enormous potential for additional trade and investment between the US and Pakistan, and that is really where our efforts to help Pakistan advance in future,” he said.

The ambassador said the US would provide $60 million in specific help to communities hosting Afghan refugees in Pakistan.

Earlier, the ambassador told the ceremony that the collaboration among the USAID’s Land Registration in Merged Areas programme, board of revenue, and KP Ombudsperson for Protection against Harassment of Women at Workplace would bring positive change to the lives of the province’s residents, especially those living in tribal districts.

He said that the US was committed to supporting the provincial government to implement laws related to land tenure, registration and ownership in tribal districts.

Mr Blome said it was one of the top priorities of his country to support Pakistan’s efforts to strengthen its civilian democratic institutions.

He said partnership between KP and the US would help ensure that people in tribal districts have access to property and inheritance rights, access to land records improves, land transactions are streamlined, the use of land as collateral is used, revenue for the provincial government is generated, and private sector investment improves.

The ambassador said the US government also shared the Pakistani government’s goal to implement equitable and inclusive approaches promoting equality for women and other marginalised groups.

“Women’s participation in Pakistan’s economic future is not just a question of human rights but it is a key to ensure the country flourishes and prospers,” he said.

Mr Blome said gender equality could accelerate progress towards development goals including food and security.

KP Ombudsperson for Protection against Harassment of Women at Workplace Rukhshanda Naz, who was also in attendance, said KP was the first province in the country to legislate on women’s right to property ownership in 2019.

She said the Ombudsperson Secretariat had activated the provincial harassment watch committee, which had all government institutions as members.

Ms Naz said 542 inquiry committees had been formed since the establishment of the Ombudsperson Secretariat.

She said the commission had received 1,316 property rights cases and 137 of sexual harassment at workplace since its inception.

Senior Member Board of Revenue Ikramullah Khan and other officials also spoke on the occasion.

The the Ombudsperson Secretariat signed a memorandum of understanding with the US authorities regarding the training of its staff members on women’s rights and land settlement regulations.

Mr Blome also inaugurated the second phase of the Joint Police Training Centre in Nowshera district, according to a statement issued by the provincial police.

Police chief Akhtar Hayat Khan said the initiative would help build the capacity of police to fight militants.

He said besides police, former Levies personnel, members of other law-enforcement agencies, and police officials from Azad Jammu and Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan regions were also trained at the facility.

Published in Dawn, July 14th, 2023