Lahore, November 27, 2012 - Today, Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf and U.S. Ambassador Richard Olson spoke at the closing ceremony of the Pakistan Dairy Industry Conference in Lahore to highlight U.S.-Pakistan cooperation to help dairy farmers grow their businesses.

Pakistan is one of the largest dairy producers in the world, and the United States is committed to working with dairy farmers to help them protect their livestock from disease, improve the quality of their products, and increase their profits. At today's conference, Ambassador Olson highlighted two U.S. assistance programs designed to achieve those objectives: the Entrepreneurs Project and the Dairy Project.

The Entrepreneurs Project offers workshops to help Pakistani dairy farmers sharpen their business skills, develop new products and services, and raise their incomes. The Dairy Project is a public-private partnership with Nestle Pakistan and the Dairy and Rural Development Foundation that has trained 9,000 dairy farmers and 5,000 small agribusinesses to help them protect their livestock, improve the quality of their products, and increase revenue. These partnerships have produced results. "Since 2010, more than 22,000 dairy farmers affected by the devastating floods have been able to double their incomes through the U.S.-funded Entrepreneurs Project," said Ambassador Olson at the conference.

Through other initiatives that support the agricultural sector, the United States has trained more than 750 veterinarians and lab technicians to prevent the spread of the deadly Foot and Mouth Virus, and provided vaccinations to protect 110,000 dairy cows, buffalo, and yaks from the disease.

Speaking at the conference Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf stated, "Today's Dairy Industry Conference is important because it demonstrates that the U.S. and Pakistan are working to create an economic partnership based on trade, not just aid."

The Dairy Industry Conference is just one component of a comprehensive U.S. economic assistance program which creates jobs and boosts incomes through projects that expand Pakistan's agricultural output, build roads to facilitate trade, and help grow small- and medium-size businesses.