ISLAMABAD: Pakistan is making hectic efforts to achieve Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) set by the United Nations, WealthPK reports.
In this connection, the unit set up at the Ministry of Planning, Development and Special Initiates has expedited coordination with all the provinces.
Syed Zafar Ali Shah, Secretary of the Ministry of Planning, Development and Special Initiatives, said that SDGs were inevitable for the sustained economic growth of any country. “Pakistan is one of those countries that have been focused on these goals for sustainable economic growth of the country,” he added.
He said that the SDGs unit at the ministry speeded up its coordination with other provinces to achieve the targets. “In this regard, a conference or seminar will be arranged where the representation of all the provinces will be ensured so that coordinated efforts could be made for achieving SDGs,” he added.
Zafar Ali told WealthPK that the provinces would be consulted for setting priorities so that the SDG agenda could be attained successfully.
Federal Minister for Planning, Development and Special Initiatives Ahsan Iqbal will present the second Voluntary National Review (VNR) at a High-Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development (HLPF-2022) to be held at the United Nations from July 13 to July 15. The VNR is a country-led comprehensive review and follow-up mechanism for gauging progress on Agenda 2030 implementation with a whole of society approach.
The aim of VNR is to facilitate knowledge sharing to all international audiences for replication of the best practices, learning success stories and highlighting challenges and lessons learned for the implementation of the 2030 Agenda. It highlights challenges, obstacles and barriers in the implementation of SDGs with solutions and strategies and mobilises stakeholders’ support and partnerships for achieving SDGs.
This year Pakistan is going to present the VNR of five goals including education, gender, life on land, life below water and partnership and development.
To improve its rank on the VNR list, Pakistan needs to achieve SDGs in line with the sustainable development and economic growth of the country.
Pakistan was the first country to adopt SDG 2030 as the National Development Agenda in 2015. The government then recognised the achievement of these goals as an essential prerequisite for socio-economic prosperity, well-being and development of the people of Pakistan. Efforts are needed at the global level to support developing countries like Pakistan to achieve these goals keeping in view the recent losses caused by the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic.
-INP
