Finland supports reconstruction and stabilization in the Pakistani border region

Press release 123/2010
23 April 2010

Minister for Foreign Trade and Development Paavo Väyrynen has allocated EUR 3 million of development cooperation appropriations to a fund supporting reconstruction and stabilization in Pakistani areas bordering on Afghanistan. The fund is managed by the World Bank.

Areas situated near Pakistan’s western border suffer from prolonged conflict and social instability. Socio-economic development in Pakistani border regions is considerably behind that in the rest of the country. The situation in the border regions is also critical because various insurgent and terrorist organizations use these areas as their training, logistics and rest areas, and as bases for attacks to Pakistan and Afghanistan. Stability in Pakistan and stability in Afghanistan are closely linked, and support to border regions also contributes to regional development more widely. Thus, this donation to the fund is one element of Finland’s comprehensive regional approach to bring stability to Afghanistan and Pakistan.

The objective of the fund is to supplement and strengthen measures taken by the Pakistani Government to stabilize and reconstruct the region. Assets in the fund are used, for example, to improve the availability of education and health care services and to restore damaged infrastructure. In addition, the fund helps develop the livelihoods of the region’s inhabitants and internally displaced persons and strengthen the court system. Moreover, the rights and status of women and girls are improved by increasing education and health services and by strengthening women’s legal status.

Additional information: Rauli Suikkanen, Head of the South Asia Team, tel. +358 9 1605 5523, and Markus Ojakoski, Senior Political Adviser to the Minister for Foreign Trade and Development, tel. +358 9 1605 6306 or mobile tel. +358 500 459 009.