Regional External Assistance Workshop inaugurated

Ranchi, June 23 : A two-day "Regional External Assistance Workshop" was inaugurated today at Ranchi by Jharkhand Chief Minister Madhu Koda.

The first workshop of its kind, is being organized by Department of Economic Affairs, Government of India and brings together major external development partners and officials of five States, namely Jharkhand, Bihar, West Bengal, Chhatisgarh and Orissa.

The officials of Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh also participated as resource persons to share their experiences in accessing external assistance.

Speaking on the occasion, Koda emphasized on inclusive and sustainable development and welcomed the idea of organizing the workshop in a less-developed part of the country.

He also urged the development partners to develop more projects for Jharkhand.

Sindhushree Khullar, Additional Secretary in her speech outlined the role of external assistance in the development of the states and called upon them to access development assistance for infrastructure development, improving social development indicators and building capacity and skills of the state level officials.

All major external development partners are attending the workshop.

Country heads of World Bank, Asian Development Bank, United Nations Development Programme, Japan Bank for International Cooperation, International Fund for Agricultural Development, and Department for International Development as well senior officials of Ministry of Finance, Planning Commission and seven State Governments are participating in the workshop.

The objective of the Workshop is to build capacity of these five states in better accessing external assistance for the development of their states, to bring Development Partners as well as States together, to identify focus areas for external assistance in the states, to demystify whole process of seeking external assistance and to forge relationships between the Development partners with these states for greater dialogue and interaction.

ANI