Pakistan launches $500 million projects for Afghanistan development

Pakistan’s minister for Planning, Development and Reforms Ahsan Iqbal announced that the country has launched $500 million worth of projects for Afghanistan’s education, health and infrastructure sectors, the media reported on Friday.

Pakistan’s minister for Planning, Development and Reforms Ahsan Iqbal announced that the country has launched $500 million worth of projects for Afghanistan’s education, health and infrastructure sectors, the media reported on Friday.

Afghan men ride on a motorcycle as the sun sets on the outskirts of Mazar-i-sharif. Pakistan has announced a number of projects with a cumulative value of $500 million for its neighbour, with plans to focus on Afghanistan’s education, health and infrastructure sectors. (AFP Photo)

Iqbal on Thursday said that 3,000 scholarships had been offered to Afghan students in different universities of Pakistan and 100 Afghan students would study in the Lahore University of Management Sciences, Dawn online reported.

Talking to an Afghan delegation comprising academicians, lawmakers, students and civil society members here, the minister said that Pakistan had desired to forge friendly relations with all its neighbours, including Afghanistan.

He underlined the need for greater exchanges of scholars, artists, businessmen and others to boost cooperation and friendly and brotherly relations between the two countries.

“We have to start a new chapter in Pakistan-Afghanistan relations by focussing on social and economic dimensions of the friendship,” Iqbal said, adding that two countries shared hundreds of years of history.

“If an untoward incident happens in Afghanistan, Pakistan will be the first country to feel its heat and it will affect the rest of the world later on,” he added.