PPI News Agency

Rawalpindi: Chief of Army Staff General Qamar Javed Bajwa on Monday said that the army is ready to thwart any threat including that of from across the border, according to Inter-Services Public Relations.

According to the ISPR, the COAS presided over the 226th Corps Commanders’ Conference held at the General Headquarters on Monday.

The forum reviewed geo strategic and national security environment, along with the internal security, the situation along the eastern border and the Line of Control.

“While Pakistan Armed Forces with support of national institutions and the nation are fully prepared and committed to thwart all threats including on Eastern Border/LOC, continued cohesion of all national stakeholders on key national issues is essential to defeat inimical forces”, the ISPR quoted the COAS as saying.

The commanders expressed firm resolve to defend the country against full spectrum threat. “We have attained better internal security and stability through cohesive national efforts and sacrifices rendered by Pakistan Armed Forces, all national institutions and above all the nation. We shall not let it reverse to suit any vested agenda at any cost,” said the army chief.

Calling Pakistan Army an organ of the state, the army chief said that it will continue to support national institutions as and when asked as per the Constitution, mentioned the ISPR.

LARKANA: An aged woman of Ratodero suffering from AIDS was denied admission for treatment of her co-infections at Emergency Department of Chandka Medical College Hospital (CMCH) Monday.

She protested and laid down herself on the floor in front of Casualty for about three hours when media persons reached and then she was admitted for treatment. Dr. Hola Ram, Incharge, HIV/AIDS Treatment and Care Centre, Larkana, said that she is registered with the Centre since last seven years as HIV positive patient but her current Viral Load Test is 180 due to which her viral disease has converted into AIDS.

Her daughter Sakina told newsmen that her mother had several medical complications, including fever, hepatitis and others. She said they were referred here from Ratodero for treatment but nobody was ready to admit her for unknown reasons.

Finally, she added, her mother had been admitted for treatment. Meanwhile, the issue also became viral on social media along with her photo which has brought bad name to the provincial rulers, health department, CMCH on the one hand and Sindh AIDS Control Program on the other because they have failed to motivate duty doctors at the hospitals to provide proper admission and treatment to the HIV patients and refrain from stigma and discrimination. She is first AIDS patient detected here.

KATHMANDU: The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has approved a $50 million policy-based loan to help support the Government of Nepal’s reforms to improve food safety measures, enhance agricultural trade standards, and promote agricultural commercialization in the country.

“Agriculture has a big potential to contribute significantly to Nepal’s growth and development, but the sector remains rooted on subsistence farming and food safety measures are impeding the prospect of trade with other countries,” said ADB Senior Public Management Economist Mr. Navendu Karan. “ADB’s assistance will help address these issues by making sure that Nepal’s agricultural products and processes are up to international standards.”

Agriculture plays a key role in Nepal’s economy, contributing 27% of gross domestic product in 2019, with 55% of the country’s working age population (above 15 years) engaged in subsistence agriculture, 61% of whom are women. However, the sector’s productivity remains the lowest in South Asia, given the dominance of subsistence farming, poor adoption of suitable on-farm and post-harvest technology, lack of timely supply of quality inputs including fertilizer and seeds, and limited financial services and infrastructure.

Agricultural commercialization, meanwhile, is constrained by the limited capacity of farmers to prepare bankable business proposals to seek formal financing. The country’s food safety measures are also not aligned with international standards, making it difficult to move agricultural commodities between Nepal and its trade partners, with exporters facing significant delays and higher transaction costs due to multiple food safety tests on both sides of the border.

The Food Safety and Agriculture Commercialization Program, comprised of a two-tranche, standalone policy-based loan, will improve food safety and quality monitoring systems in Nepal, particularly in enhancing the regulatory and institutional capacity for sanitary and phytosanitary monitoring. This will include alignment with accepted standards for pesticide residue levels for fruits and vegetables, among others.

The program will promote agricultural commercialization by supporting the preparation of bankable business plans for selected commodities to widen farmers’ access to finance and business knowledge, while building their capacity in good agricultural practices. Institutional capacity of relevant government authorities will be enhanced to ensure sustainability of progress in the agriculture sector.

ADB has been Nepal’s key partner in the agriculture sector since the bank’s first sector engagement in 1971. Apart from the policy-based loan, ADB will also provide a $500,000 technical assistance grant to assist implementing agencies to comply with the policy conditions of the program’s second tranche.

ADB is committed to achieving a prosperous, inclusive, resilient, and sustainable Asia and the Pacific, while sustaining its efforts to eradicate extreme poverty. In 2018, it made commitments of new loans and grants amounting to $21.6 billion. Established in 1966, it is owned by 68 members—49 from the region.