Lahore, Oct.8 : The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) has released reports on its website detailing the financial aid the organisation is providing to Pakistan.

According to the report USAID provided a total of 449 million dollars to Pakistan from 2002 to 2006 to address the pressing needs of education, health, economic growth and good governance. It states that Pakistan's health indicators are among the worst in the world with 35 mothers dying for every 100,000 children born and 72 infants dying for every 1,000 live births. It says USAID is helping Pakistan in this regard by upgrading 40 hospitals and training 3,000 health staff.

The report stresses that Pakistan's future depends on its ability to create jobs and promote investment. It states that USAID is teaching arid agriculture practices in Balochistan and helping small- and medium-sized industries like dairy and furniture to create more jobs.

The agency is also helping strengthen the national and provincial parliaments with technical assistance and training. The agency has also established a recovery and reconstruction programme in earthquake-affected areas to quicken the recovery process.

According to the report, the US government is also providing Emergency Economic Assistance to Pakistan's government. In 2002, US President Bush pledged that the US government would provide Pakistan with one billion dollar in Economic Support Funds (ESF) over the course of 2002-2004.

In 2004, the US pledged to provide another 1.5 billion dollars in EEA funds at 200 million dollars per year from 2005-2009. USAID has also notified Congress of its intention to obligate 200 million dollars in ESF in 2007. (ANI)