Department For International Development: Mitchell: Aid to work harder for Afghanistan

International Development Secretary of State Andrew Mitchell has announced that aid to Afghanistan and Pakistan needs to to get higher priority at the Department of International Development and that this needs to be more closer integrated with work on stabilisation.

The announcement comes as he visits Afghanistan alongside the Foreign Secretary, William Hague, and the Defence Secretary, Dr Liam Fox, to take stock of the UK's Afghanistan strategy.

In response to these priorities , the Permanent Secretary (Minouche Shafik) has appointed a Western Asia and Stabilisation Director with responsibility for Afghanistan, Pakistan and Stabilisation.  This has been done so that more senior time is devoted to the high priority areas of Pakistan, Afghanistan and Stabilisation.  This change will also allow the Department for International Development to work more closely with colleagues in the Ministry of Defence and the Foreign and Commonwealth Office on Afghanistan, Pakistan and Stabilisation. 

The Secretary of State said: 

"These appointments reflect the need to see the UK’s aid work harder in countries such as Afghanistan and Pakistan in order to bring about stability. It is our duty to ensure that aid plays a full a part as possible in countries where conflict is halting progress and leaving people without water, electricity and schooling.    

"Following 30 years of conflict, Afghanistan is one of the poorest countries in the world with half of its 25 million people living below the international poverty line and 40% with not enough to eat. These new appointments will enable the department to give greater resource to creating jobs and encourage economic growth, brining more stability to Helmand, provide alternatives to poppy growing and making the government more effective."

The reconfiguration of Directors' portfolios in the Country Programmes areas: 

Director West and Southern Africa – Jim Drummond

Director East and Central Africa - Joy Hutcheon

Director of Western Asia and Stabilisation – Moazzam Malik

Director Asia – Beverley Warmington

Director Security & Humanitarian and Middle East, Caribbean & Overseas Territories - Sue Wardell

ENDS  

As Shadow Secretary of State for International Development from 2005 to 2010, Andrew Mitchell led his Party's campaign to tackle global poverty.

Andrew Mitchell has seen first-hand the impact that deprivation, conflict and oppression have on the lives of ordinary people around the world.  Having served as a UN peacekeeper in Cyprus in the 1970s, he went on to work and travel extensively in Africa and Asia, experiences that have stayed with him throughout his time as an MP. For the last three years Andrew Mitchell has organised Project Umubano, a social action project where approximately 100 volunteers work on a variety of development projects in Rwanda.  

Andrew Mitchell was the Member of Parliament for Gedling from 1987 to 1997.  During this period he held office as a Government Whip and as Minister for Social Security. He served as a Vice-Chairman of the Conservative Party from 1992 to 1993. Andrew Mitchell has represented Sutton Coldfield in Parliament since 2001.

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