ISLAMABAD: The government has decided to dispatch a high-powered delegation headed by Salman Farooqui, Secretary General to the President, to Washington DC for talks with the World Bank’s president and the US administration to review multi-billion dollar development projects and win support for Diamer-Basha dam, The News has learnt.
A top aide of the Presidency said that the visit was to take place on March 11, 2013 but it was cancelled because the government was going to complete its five-year term and it was not an appropriate time for holding such talks at this stage.
Sources closely linked with Washington D.C told this scribe that initially the visit was planned for March 8, 2013 but later on it was re-scheduled for March 11, 2013 in which the delegation headed by Salman Farooqui and comprising former bureaucrat Ismail Qureshi and Shakeel Durrani, Advisor to Minister of Water and Power, were to hold crucial talks probably with the World Bank’s president or vice president to win support for financing the Basha dam. Now the new date of the visit is March 23, 2013, they said.
Another top official confirmed that it was the idea of the Foreign Office for making a high-level contact with WB and US officials to win support for Basha dam as well as holding meeting with USAID officials and UNICEF to accelerate funding for important development projects.
The Federal Ombudsman’s office headed by acting head Salman Farooqui recently came up with a detailed report on measles on the basis of which UNICEF indicated multi-million dollar support to end this menace from Pakistan by vaccinating all children aged 9 months to five years.http://images.thenews.com.pk/07-03-2013/ethenews/e-163921.htm
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