ISLAMABAD- The Japan government Thursday announced aid worth around 318 million Japanese Yen (around 3 million US dollars) for the Human Resource Development Scholarship (JDS) program in Pakistan.
Ambassador of Japan to Pakistan, Matsuda Kuninori and Secretary of Ministry of Economic Affairs, Noor Ahmed signed the Exchange of Notes (E/N) on the program, said a press release issued here.
The Grant Agreement (G/A) for the aforementioned program was also signed between Deputy Secretary of Ministry of Economic Affairs, Rahman Shah, and Chief Representative of Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) Pakistan Office, Mr. FURUTA Shigeki.
JDS is designed to support social and economic development of the country by providing government officials an opportunity to obtain Master’s or Doctoral degree in Japan in order to strengthen the administrative capacity of officials.
The participants of JDS program who are involved in 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-hows of how Japan became a country as it is today.
As JDS in Pakistan was started from 2018 and has four batches in consecutive four years, Pakistan is experiencing the third batch of the program this year. For the third batch, the maximum number of the slots for JDS participants in Pakistan are eighteen (18) seats for Master’s degree and two (2) seats for Doctoral degree.
FURUTA Shigeki mentioned "This program will provide young and promising government officials with significant opportunity to study and obtain masters or PhD degrees in universities in Japan.
Those who attend this program are anticipated to play leading roles of the government in the future in formulating and implementing social and economic policies for the development of Pakistan. Japan is a unique country with a history of building a liberal nation with advancement in socio-economy and technology from scratch after the World War II.
"I am quite sure that the JDS fellows will gain public administrative capacity together with wider and deeper knowledge and broad human networks through this program " Matsuda Kuninori said.
He noted that "JDS scholarship is expected to contribute to strengthen the administrative capacities of government of Pakistan by providing the opportunity to obtain the Master and Doctor of Philosophy degree to talented government officers who are involved in formulation and implementation of social and economic development of Pakistan.
"Japan will continue to support Pakistan in the future as a friend and I hope this project would further contribute to strengthen the existing bond of friendship between the two countries " the ambassador said.