960406

FAP contacts Asia

Foundation to help

set up secretariate

LAHORE: The Farmers Associates Pakistan (FAP) is holding negotiations with Asia Foundation to arrange funds for the establishment of its central secretariat and local community welfare centres.

The central secretariat to coordinate organization's activities will be set up at Lahore while the local Community centres would be established in all the four provinces of the country.

Speaking at the meeting of the Executive Committee of the FAP, the Chief Coordinator of the organisation, Afaq Tiwana, at a local hotel on Saturday , he said , during the first year of the three-year FAP programme, four centres would be set up on experimental basis which would later be increased to 12 in number within three years.

He said that FAP was taking all these steps to make itself strong enough to take some stand for the cause of farmers.

Syed Iqbal Mustafa, the consultant of the FAP on the funding said, without funding by the foreign donor agencies, the organisation could not make any stride.

He said that feasibility report on the issue would be submitted to the Asia Foundation soon.

Responding to a question, he said that the Asia Foundation had recently got a fund of US$ 10 million for assistance to the community welfare organisations.

He said that foundation had not only promised to provide some grant but could also ask international donor agencies to help FAP.

" We have held several meetings with the Asia Foundation people; their response is very positive", Mustafa told the meeting.

He said that the required assistance would enable FAP to fulfil its full agenda and help it grow into a potent agency playing crucial role in rural-agricultural development.-APP