RAWALPINDI, Feb 15 (APP): Pakistan and Germany on Monday joined hands to facilitate over 30,000 Afghan refugees and their hosts with integrated services, including health, education, skills training, legal support, and recreational activities through an ‘Urban Cohesion Hub’.

The initiative is aimed at supporting vulnerable groups, including people with disabilities, working children, elderly people, youth, and women.

Funded by the German Federal Foreign Office, the project has been established in cooperation with the Chief Commissioner-ate for Afghan Refugees under the Ministry of SAFRON and implemented by the GIZ Refugee Management Support Programme through ICMC and United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).

Speaking at the inauguration ceremony of the hub here, German Ambassador Bernhard Schlagheck said the hub serving as a community center would help foster social cohesion between the Afghan refugees and Pakistani host communities residing in Rawalpindi and Islamabad.

Schlagheck said ” The Urban Cohesion Hub is testimony to the close and multifaceted German-Pakistani bilateral relations, which will witness their 70th anniversary this year. The services that will be provided through this hub will promote peaceful coexistence in an important urban refugee affected and hosting area of Pakistan.”

Minister for States and Frontier Regions Sahabzada Mehboob Sultan, speaking on the occasion, said for the last 40 years, Pakistanis had shown exemplary kindness, empathy and solidarity towards the Afghan refugees.