Japan provides grant for HR development scholarship

Islamabad : The government of Japan today announced grant aid worth 313 million Japanese Yen (around $2.4 million) for the Human Resource Development Scholarship (JDS) programme in Pakistan.

ISHII Kensuke, charge d’ Affaires ad interim of Japan to the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, and Mian Asad Hayaud Din, Secretary of the Ministry of Economic Affairs, signed the Exchange of Notes (E/N) on this programme.

The Grant Agreement (G/A) for the programme was also signed between Adil Akbar Khan, Joint Secretary of the Ministry of Economic Affairs, and Kinoshita Yasumitsu, Chief Representative of Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) Pakistan Office.

The JDS is designed to support the social and economic development of the country by providing government officials to

obtain Master’s or Doctoral degrees in Japan in

order to strengthen the administrative capacity of officials.

The participants of JDS programme who are involved in the formulation and implementation of policies are expected to learn in partner universities in Japan and acquire knowledge of their specialties as well as the know-how of how Japan became a country as it is today.

As JDS in Pakistan started in 2018 and has four batches in four consecutive years, the first phase concluded this year.

This occasion celebrates the signing of the very first batch of the second phase of this program. For this batch, the maximum number of slots for JDS participants in Pakistan is 17 seats for the Master’s degree and one seat for the Doctoral degree.

Kinoshita said Japan and Pakistan were celebrating 70 years of the anniversary this year.

“We hope that JDS fellows, as well as those 7,000 JICA training participants supported under Technical Cooperation Programme, will build broader human networks that will benefit both Pakistan and Japan in the long run,” he said.

Ishii said the JDS scholarship was expected to contribute to strengthening the administrative capacities of the government of Pakistan by providing the talented government officials with the opportunity to obtain the Master’s and Doctor of Philosophy degrees so that they can effectively lead the social and economic development of Pakistan.

“I hope this project would further contribute to strengthening the friendship between the two countries,” he said.