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Govt worries about wheat
sales to WFP
KARACHI-Government's hopes to supply 300,000 tonnes of wheat
to Afghanistan are fading after a US wheat donation to feed
Afghans driven from their homes by war and drought, a senior
official said on Friday.
However, World Food Programme (WFP) spokesman Wagdi Othman
said the US donation for Afghanistan would not affect the
WFP's agreement with Pakistan.
The US donation to the WFP was due to reach the war-torn
country by the end of January. Shaukat Usman, a senior
official in the Ministry of Food and Agriculture, said
Islamabad was pushing to go ahead with all deals it had struck
with the WFP despite new supplies from other countries.
"The US donation could cancel our deal with the WFP. I am not
optimistic that it will materialise," Usman said. Wheat
purchases by UN aid agencies are expected to reach one million
tonnes in 2001-02 (July-June), compared with last year's
300,000 tonnes.
Islamabad, following the US-led war on Afghanistan in October,
had initially hoped to sell at least 500,000-600,000 tonnes to
UN aid agencies from its wheat stockpile of 3.5 million tonnes.
The Pakistani government struck one deal with the WFP to
provide 300,000 tonnes of wheat in the third week of October,
but deliveries have yet to begin. Othman said the US donation
would reach Pakistan and Iran by the third week of January.
"Around 60,000 tonnes will arrive in Karachi on January 21 and
the remaining quantity at the port of Bandar Abbas on January
23," he said.
Courtesy The News December 29,
2001 |
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