LONDON-Pakistan and UK can collaborate extensively for improving practices in the livestock and dairy Sector of Pakistan to yield maximum benefit to milk producers. Though Pakistan is the third largest producer of milk in the world, the sector remains informal and disorganised resulting in less profits for the farmers and gap in supply and demand. Proper training of dairy farmers in management, and animal care can increase the yield to manifolds at the same time bring economic prosperity and social change in the lives of farmers and their families. These observations were made by the participants of first ever Pak-UK Roundtable on Technical Cooperation in Livestock and Dairy Sector, held at the Cambridge University on Tuesday to provide a forum for interaction to stakeholders from UK and Pakistan in this sector. UKs Department for International Development (DFID) also referenced its upcoming 50 million commitment to Punjab Economic Opportunities Programme (PEOP) in Partnership with the Government of Punjab in Pakistan. PEOP will create jobs and improve income of poor farmers in the Pakistan by helping them market their produce; provide technical knowledge and training to improve the dairy sector; and ensure that women and marginalised communities benefit from the programme. The participants of the conference included dairy businesses, institutes and processing companies; including government officials. Universities from UK particularly showed an interest in providing technical expertise to Pakistan on the livestock and dairy sector. Minister Political Nafees Zakaria, who represented Pakistans High Commission in the UK said that over 100 British companies were engaged in the business investments in Pakistan. DFIDs initiative would provide impetus to the social uplifting and economic prosperity at the grass-roots in Pakistan. Robert Gibson UKs Deputy High Commissioner for Pakistan and Director Trade and Investment highlighted the investment potential of Pakistan saying contrary to misperceptions about it Pakistan with its population profile , fertile lands and hardworking labour force is one of the best countries for investment. Since agriculture sector is traditional it needs modernisation and UK can offer technical assistance in this regard, he added. Secretary Department of Livestock and Dairy Government of Punjab Dr.Jehanzeb Khan was of the view that the reason to focus on dairy sector development was that the sector despite having huge potential remained unexplored and by formalising this sector trend of modern business culture and best practices can be initiated in the agriculture sector. He said that human resource development, better quality of animals through use of scientific methods of breeding and disease control were crucial besides proper marketing to transform the economic and social conditions of the people associated with this business. Chief Executive Punjab Board of Investment and Trade Pir Saad Ehsanuddin said that forming partnerships with the private sector was essential to promote the practices of competition and good quality besides the fact that the private sector employees contribute 90pc work force in Punjab. Further Government of Punjab has offered 500 acres of land for the development of livestock. dairy and agriculture , he added. DFID representatives including Mavis Owusu-Gyamfi and Haroon Sharif highlighted UKs commitment to the development needs of Pakistan, particularly in the dairy and livestock sector. The roundtable conference was sponsored by UKs Department for International Development (DFID), Tetrapak, Nestle, Em-Zealand SolutioNZ, Sapphire Group and MAP Services Group. Pakistan is the worlds 3rd largest milk producer with an annual milk production of 33 billion litres. There are over 10 million families having more than 56 million dairy animals, mostly indigenous buffaloes and cows. The supply demand gap is more then 1.5 billion litres and is growing. The biggest gaps are the slow growth of the processed industry due to lack of availability of good milk. The dairy animals are low yielding and the farming methods are very traditional. The milk economy contributes an estimated 11 per cent to Pakistans GDP but most of it, around 97 per cent, is informal. There has been a long awaited need for initiating mega projects to bridge these gaps and to convert the 97 per cent informal economy into an organised one with a formal workforce. In view of the above need-analysis in 2005 MAP Services Group in partnership with the dairy industry designed Pakistans dairy Strategy called the White Revolution - Dhoodh Darya (river of milk). Ms. Huma Fakhar, Managing Partner, MAP Services Group says 'The fact that Nestles second largest milk processing plant of Asia has been set up in Kabirwala with an investment of 480 million USD, with Tetra Paks largest packaging unit plant in the world near Lahore and Emirates Investment Group having chosen dairy and agriculture as a key focus in Pakistan; all speaks for itself making the potential of Pakistans dairy industry self evident. Both Nestle and Tetrapak were represented at the roundtable by their global representatives Hans Joehr Nestle S.A. and Ms. Ullah Holm Tetra Pak; showing the continued commitment of multinationals to develop Pakistans dairy sector. Azhar Ali Syed, Managing Director Tetra Pak Pakistan said 'Huge business potential exists in providing safe qualitative milk to 170 million Pakistani Consumers. Em- Zealand SolutioNZ alongwith partner Emirates Investment Group; a global partnership is adamant to bring in global knowledge to leverage the potential of the sector in the country. Raza Jaffer of Emirates Investment Group said 'EIGs strategy is to blend best practice and knowledge from around the world with Pakistans fertile land to bring yield and production levels in line with other major agriculture based economies. The roundtable bridged a great opportunity for all the major players to share best practices; transfer of knowledge from more developed countries like UK. The Government of Pakistan, the UK Government and all the lead players reiterated the need for institutional integration and showed their commitment and appreciation to the UK development agency - DFID for the upcoming PEOP.