U.S. Embassy’s Minister Counselor for Public Affairs Raymond Castillo and Vice Chancellor Dr. Kaleem Abbasi joined faculty and students to celebrate the 15-year anniversary of the Lincoln Corner at the University of Azad Jammu and Kashmir in Muzaffarabad and to renew its Memorandum of Understanding for another two years. Established in 2007, the Lincoln Corner at University of Azad Jammu and Kashmir is one of the longest serving in Pakistan.

“As we mark this 15-year anniversary celebration, we have many activities also to look forward to in the future. Today I have the pleasure of announcing the launch of the Academy of Women Entrepreneurs training for Lincoln Corner Muzaffarabad starting June 11. AWE Pakistan is a competitive, fully-funded program offered by the U.S. Mission to Pakistan to help women entrepreneurs with the skills, resources, and networks needed to establish and grow their businesses, through facilitated, online learning,” Mr. Castillo said in his remarks.

“The 15th year anniversary celebration is also part of a larger 75th anniversary celebration of U.S.-Pakistan bilateral relations. Our partnership has grown in many areas, and we look forward to building on our successes and expanding further on the ties between the American and Pakistani people,” noted Minister Counselor Castillo.

The Lincoln Corner at the University of Azad Jammu and Kashmir’s City Campus includes a Maker Space with a 3-D printer and virtual reality headsets, a comprehensive collection of books, magazines, scholarly databases, and an Americana-themed public events space.

Lincoln Corner Muzaffarabad is part of a network of 19 American Spaces across Pakistan and more than 600 across the world. In Pakistan, these Spaces are partnerships between the U.S. Mission to Pakistan and eminent Pakistani institutes of education and culture. Lincoln Corners are event spaces and resource centers that connect young leaders with the United States. Online and in-person programs are free and open to the public, a tangible symbol of the strength and breadth of U.S.-Pakistan relations, since Pakistan’s inception 75 years ago.

While in Muzaffarabad, Mr. Castillo also met with officials from the AJK Government’s Department of Education and visited students from English Works!, a U.S. Embassy program that improves the English language skills of unemployed or under-employed youth ages 17 to 25, while also enhancing entrepreneurial and technical skills to increase employability. He also engaged with more than 40 alumni of the Pakistan-U.S. Alumni Network.

For more information about Lincoln Corners or the U.S. Embassy’s English language programs, please visit the U.S. Embassy website or the Facebook pages of Lincoln Corners Pakistan or RELO Pakistan.

“The United States looks forward to advancing our partnership with Pakistan to build a clean, efficient, and reliable electricity generation sector, laying a foundation for sustainable and inclusive growth,” said USAID Mission Director Julie A. Koenen at the launch ceremony. “Through this new initiative, USAID will partner with the Government of Pakistan to support the transition to a truly competitive wholesale power market. This will increase private sector participation in an open and transparent manner and support our shared energy reform goals,” she added.



Mr. Shah Jahan Mirza, Managing Director of the Private Power Infrastructure Board, praised USAID for its strong partnership, innovation, and sustained cooperation in supporting Pakistan’s transition to clean energy and said he looks forward to continuing the partnership to improve Pakistan’s power sector performance.


Over the last 75 years, the U.S.-Pakistan partnership has improved Pakistani lives by building dams and transmission lines, responding to humanitarian emergencies, and combatting shared challenges like the COVID-19 pandemic, climate change, and water vulnerabilities.


To expand Pakistan’s energy supply, the United States and Pakistan have built three dams– Gomal Zam dam in South Waziristan, Satpara dam in Gilgit Baltistan, and Golen Gol dam in Chitral, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, adding 143 megawatts of electricity to the national grid – and together have rehabilitated the Mangla and Tarbela dams and three thermal power plants, and connected more than 860 megawatts of commercially-funded wind and solar projects to the national grid.


For more information about USAID’s Energy programs, please visit: https://www.usaid.gov/pakistan/energy

“The United States looks forward to advancing our partnership with Pakistan to build a clean, efficient, and reliable electricity generation sector, laying a foundation for sustainable and inclusive growth,” said USAID Mission Director Julie A. Koenen at the launch ceremony. “Through this new initiative, USAID will partner with the Government of Pakistan to support the transition to a truly competitive wholesale power market. This will increase private sector participation in an open and transparent manner and support our shared energy reform goals,” she added.

Mr. Shah Jahan Mirza, Managing Director of the Private Power Infrastructure Board, praised USAID for its strong partnership, innovation, and sustained cooperation in supporting Pakistan’s transition to clean energy and said he looks forward to continuing the partnership to improve Pakistan’s power sector performance.

Over the last 75 years, the U.S.-Pakistan partnership has improved Pakistani lives by building dams and transmission lines, responding to humanitarian emergencies, and combatting shared challenges like the COVID-19 pandemic, climate change, and water vulnerabilities.

To expand Pakistan’s energy supply, the United States and Pakistan have built three dams– Gomal Zam dam in South Waziristan, Satpara dam in Gilgit Baltistan, and Golen Gol dam in Chitral, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, adding 143 megawatts of electricity to the national grid – and together have rehabilitated the Mangla and Tarbela dams and three thermal power plants, and connected more than 860 megawatts of commercially-funded wind and solar projects to the national grid.

For more information about USAID’s Energy programs, please visit: https://www.usaid.gov/pakistan/energy