Moalims

Saturday, July 25, 2015 - Lahore—British Minister of State for International Development Desmond Angus Swayne called on Punjab Chief Minister Muhammad Shahbaz Sharif here today. Matters regarding promotion of cooperation in education, health, skill development and other sectors were discussed in the meeting.
The Chief Minister said that Britain is an important trade partner of Pakistan.
He said that various programmes in education, health and skill development sectors are running successfully in Punjab with the cooperation of Department for International Development(DFID) of UK.
He said that Punjab government wants to further promote cooperation with DFID and technical assistance especially in skill development will be welcomed.
He said that Punjab government is taking revolutionary steps for empowerment of youth. He said that besides enrollment in schools, special attention is also being paid to teachers’ training for the promotion of quality education and the achievement of the targets fixed with regard to quality education till 2017-18 will be ensured.
He said that the programme for the improvement of public health facilities with the cooperation of DFID is yielding positive results.
He said that due to cooperation between Punjab Skill Development Company and DFID, thousands of youth have been imparted skills in the province during the last few years, however, there is need for speedy progress in this regard.
He said that DFID should consider provision of technical assistance for producing quality skilled manpower and teachers’ training.
He assured that Punjab government will provide all out cooperation for this purpose. The Chief Minister said that a target has been fixed to make 20 lakh youth skillful in Punjab during next three years and special attention is being paid to the quality training of the youth. Referring to the measures taken for women empowerment, the Chief Minister said that Punjab government has taken effective steps for the protection of rights of women and necessary legislation has been undertaken for this purpose.
He further said that special centers are being set up for redressing grievances of the women subjected to violence and all out facilities regarding provision of justice will be provided to them at these centers under one-roof. Similarly, he said, Women Development Endowment Fund is also being established in the province.
Highlighting the measures taken for elimination of terrorism and extremism, Shahbaz Sharif said that the whole nation is united to root out the menace of terrorism and extremism.
He said that Punjab government has amended laws for enhancing punishment for terrorist activities.
He said that Counter Terrorism Force has been set up in the province which has been provided training on modern lines. He said that supreme sacrifices of Pakistan in the war against terrorism are unprecedented and more than 50 thousand Pakistanis have lost their lives in this war.

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