The Government of Japan on Thursday announced grant aid worth 315 million Japanese Yen (around 2.25 million USD) for the Human Resource Development Scholarship (JDS) program in Pakistan. ITO Takeshi, Charge’d Affaires ad interim of Japan to Pakistan and Muhammad Humair Karim, Additional Secretary of Ministry of Economic Affairs, signed the Exchange of Notes on this program at the ceremony, said a news release. The grant agreement for the aforementioned program was also signed between Saeed Ashraf Siddiqi, Joint Secretary of Ministry of Economic Affairs and KINOSHITA Yasumitsu, Chief Representative of Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) Pakistan Office. JDS is designed to support the social and economic development of the country by providing government officials with the opportunity to obtain Master’s or Doctoral degree in Japan with aims to enhance their knowledge in public administration and to strengthen the relationship between Japan and Pakistan. The participants of JDS program engaging in the formulation and implementation of such policies will be enrolled at the partner universities in Japan and are expected to acquire further knowledge in their field while learning about Japanese culture and traditions. Since 2018 when JDS was launched in Pakistan, 31 government officials have successfully completed their degrees while 35 are currently pursuing their academic goals in Japan. Further, 18 officials will be dispatched to Japan in the middle of the year 2023. This occasion celebrates the signing of the sixth batch of the program in Pakistan. 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 while speaking at the event said “Through the wide varieties of courses, JDS nurtures talent, encourages intellectual growth, and enabling minds of young government officials to reach their full potential. We desire that the obtained skills and knowledge brought by JDS in Japan eventually contribute to powerful assistance for the Government of Pakistan. ” ITO Takeshi highlighted that the Government of Japan fully understands the importance of social and human capital development in Pakistan, and believes among the key enablers is a responsive and accountable public administration. Building the capacity of young outstanding civil servants in various technical areas is thus imperative in strengthening public administration that can effectively address the multi-dimensional development challenges in this country.