Dar meets Japanese delegation

ISLAMABAD, Dec 02 (APP):Special Assistant to Prime Minister (SAPM) on Youth Affairs, Muhammad Usman Dar Monday held a meeting with a delegation from embassy of Japan comprising Tokita Yuji and Doi Takemi along with UNDP’s representatives,Ignacio Artaza and Laura Sheridan.

Welcoming the delegates, Dar extended thanks for the continued support of Japanese government in diverse fields, especially assistance programmes offered for human resource development of youth.

He stressed for collaboration regarding implementation of various Japanese assisted projects in view to maximize their benefits for development of youth in Pakistan. “We greatly appreciate the scholarships offered by Japan to Pakistani students and youth and we are looking forward to enhancing these scholarships; focussing on skills development of our youth”, Dar added.

He said that Prime Minister’s Kamyab Jawan Programme must serve as a focal point for all public and private sector’s initiatives undertaken for empowering the youth.
“The Kamyab Jawan Programme’s web portal will host and present all data to our youth”, he stated.

He emphasized the need for collaboration with different embassies in Islamabad and coordinating scholarships through PM Kamyab Jawan Programme’s portal for effective communication with the Pakistani youth.

Usamn Dar said that there was need for establishment of Project Monitoring Unit (PMU) for the PM’s Kamyab Jawan Programme with joint assistance of Japan, UNDP and other donor agencies.

“We want maximum representation in the PMU to ensure collaborative efforts for the development of our youth”, adding that the government of Pakistan was quite eager that implementation of the programme was closely monitored for achieving the desired results.
Tokita Yuji said that there was a very good momentum in the bilateral relations between Japan and Pakistan.

He said that greater people to people contacts, cultural ties and business relations between the two countries were proof of a strong relationship.

Tokita said that his country was already offering a number of scholarships to young Pakistanis in different areas.

He said that”We are working on developing technical internship programmes in Japanese companies for Pakistani youth and will also offer the successful youth to work in Japan.Pakistani youth is very active and passionate about learning new skills and technologies. We are quite happy to share our knowledge with such a youth”, Tokita added.

Ignacio Artaza said that more than 60 % of Pakistani population was below 30 years of age, which provided an ideal opportunity to invest in the country’s human resource.