Regional cooperation key to find solutions to the socio-economic challenges: Pervaiz Asharf

ISLAMABAD (imrana komal): Speaker of the National Assembly of Pakistan, Raja Pervaiz Ashraf, has said that regional cooperation is key to find solutions to the socio-economic challenges of South and South-West Asia region particularly climate change, hunger, and malnutrition, promoting quality education and decent work for youth and ensuring equitable access to health
He was speaking at an evening plenary titled: Sub-regional perspectives and Review of cluster of SDGs, on the second day of 25th Sustainable Development Conference (SDC) organized by Sustainable Development Policy Institute (SDPI) and jointly held alongside UNESCAP’s 6th South and South-West Asia High-level Political Forum and Policy Dialogue on SDGs. The 4-day conference is being held in Islamabad from 5-8 December 2022.
He said that it is indeed a timely opportunity for us to reassess the national and regional strategies towards achieving SDGs in the face of unimaginable scale of loss and damage caused by unprecedented climate induced floods. He reiterated that National Assembly of Pakistan will continue to perform a proactive role for SDGs Agenda through joint and diverse legislative and parliamentary mechanisms.
Special Assistant to Prime Minister, Romina Khurshid Alam, said that Pakistan is confronted with unprecedented climate crisis and other South Asian countries have similar vulnerabilities to climate change and other challenges. She informed that the Parliament of Pakistan has been committed to make the world realize the gravity of climate challenge and the devastation the recent floods have caused across Pakistan.
Dr Abid Qaiyum Suleri, the Executive Director, SDPI said that Pakistan’s parliament is among a few parliaments across the region which has first adopted SDGs as national goals and set up a dedicated SDGs Task Force. He said that the presence of Speaker National Assembly in this conference demonstrates his strong commitment to SDGs Agenda. He said that we are passing through unprecedented times, inflation, rupee devaluation, recession. However, Pakistan is not alone confronting the Triple-C crisis.
Dr Rajjan Sudesh Ratna, UNESCAP – SSWA, said that delegates from countries during the conference sessions deliberated about respective countries’ Voluntary National Reviews and discussed challenges and way out particularly in terms of SDG 6, 7, 9 and 11. He said that 11% of global population comprises this region which lacks access to energy, and there should be a focus on clean, affordable renewable energy and intra-state energy sharing. He suggested focusing on economic diversification in terms of trade and market, disaster and climate change, and Information communications technology. He stressed that regional cooperation remains paramount to find solutions of common challenges in the
At an evening plenary titled: ‘Closing the Loop – Policy Solutions for Achieving SDG 12: Ensuring Sustainable Consumption and Production Patterns’, Tariq Bajwa, Special Advisor to the Prime Minister for Finance, has said that the private sector in Pakistan has a huge potential to advance the agenda of sustainable production and production practices. He added that although the government is having a very thin fiscal space, it has taken measures to revive agriculture and industry, especially in the post-flood scenario. He said that free seeds, interest free loans, and subsidized energy prices are expected to help farmers to come out of the crisis and revive their livelihoods. To ensure financing for the emerging businesses, a policy is in the pipeline that would be pushing the banks to lend more to the private sector, he added.
Syed M. Abdul Hassan Kazmi, Senior Director Supply Chain and Sustainability Lead Pakistan, PepsiCo, asserted that the private sector and the government need to work together to create a positive circular economy in Pakistan. He said that the business ventures to promote recycling, especially plastic waste, should be incentivized as it would not only reduce the import bill but also contribute to a better environment.
Dr Abid Qaiyum Suleri, SDPI Executive Director, said that Pakistan is currently going through numerous economic challenges. Therefore, it is a pertinent question today that how Pakistan would sail through the challenges such as high inflation, and a shrank fiscal space. He added that sustainable production and consumption is also an area of serious concern and the corporate sector of the country has to play a crucial role in it.
Mr Zafar Masud, CEO, Bank of Punjab, suggested that we need to come up with short term, midterm, and long-term strategies do deal with the menace of the plastic waste and evolve recycling systems. He says in financial sector, the State Bank of Pakistan is going to introduce rating system for industries for taking eco-friendly measures and it is a good example to emulate n the other sectors as well. Mr Jahangir Piracha, CEO, Engro Polymer & Chemicals Limited, said the incentives for the industry are very important to persuade the industry to venture into recycling projects.
At another evening plenary titled: Building Resilience in Crises: Adaptive Social Protection–A National Priority for Pakistan, Federal Minister for Poverty Alleviation and Social Safety Shazia Atta Marri said the Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP) has emerged as a model intervention towards achieving social adaptive protection for vulnerable communities facing multifaceted risks due to increased propensity of disasters and threats. She said social protection is the core and crux of everything whereas our society has faced different shocks in various crises one after the other from the pandemic to floods.
She added that the BISP is a social vehicle created back in 2008 whereas her political party (Pakistan Peoples Party) is the architect of this social vehicle and every political party owned it.
Sebastian Paust, Head of GiZ, said SDPI is one of the most important think tanks of Pakistan which is raising information on many areas of interest. He added that the recent crisis period reveals that there is a serious need to protect people’s incomes and economies from crises like pandemic, Ukraine Russia war impacts and food security crisis.
Dr Abid Qaiyum Suleri, SDPI Executive Director, said the concept of adaptive social protection is important in this conference is well sunk with the theme of the conference. He said the conference is taking up multiple issues on board from Ukraine-Russia War, COVID-19 in the context that Pakistan has been becoming a melting bowl where all crises have yoked together.
Muhammad Tariq Malik, Chairman, National Database Registration Authority (NADRA) said the problem with Pakistan is adapting new technology transforming governance. However, Pakistan has foundation of developed social protection systems and national ID system layer, which is key to achieve successful electronic governance development index indicators.
Earlier, speaking at a panel discussion titled: Energy Corridors: CASA 1000, Dr Musadik Masood Malik, Minister of State for Petroleum, said that the government is committed to completing the CASA-1000 and other clean energy projects as this would help save the future of next generation. He regretted that projects like CASA-1000 and TAPI are facing delays because these projects pass through the countries that are not financeable.
Cecile Fruman, Director, Regional Integration and Engagement, South Asia, World Bank, pointed out that with over 215 million people living without access to electricity in South Asia, the energy demand is growing at a fast pace and it would double in a decade.
She said Pakistan has strong resources in terms of wind, biogas, solar, and hydropower based clean energy. She said regional connectivity will provide a win-win situation for all to meet the growing energy needs. She said CASA-1000 energy project has been designed to supply 1300 MW of clean energy from Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan to Afghanistan and Pakistan.
Dr Abid Qaiyum Suleri, Executive Director, SDPI said energy is one of area that has greater importance especially its importance increased manifold after Russia-Ukraine war, and climate change disasters. To enhance regional trade and connectivity, he suggested that without naming SAARC, we should keep on moving forward on regional cooperation on climate change, renewable energy, clean water supply, and other areas.
Speaking at a panel discussion, titled: Emerging Challenges in Health Policy: Multifaceted Case of Rare and Neurological Disorders in Pakistan, Ms Romina Khurshid Alam, Special Assistant to Prime Minister on SDGs, encouraged the internationally practiced developed approach of pre-marital testing and screening. Proper training capacity, earlier detection and avoiding steroids are the areas to work on. She said concerted efforts are required from all sectors for emerging diseases policy formulation.
Dr Ehtesham Khalid, Neurophysician from Multan, highlighted the challenges regarding diagnostic measures, financial constraints, and advanced education programmes. He gave the examples of multiple sclerosis (MS) spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) and NMOSD that how these diseases lead to disability and require multi-disciplinary approach to treatment.
Speaking at a panel discussion titled: Transforming Food Systems to Meet the Emerging Challenges to Food Security, Dr Abid Qaiyum Suleri, SDPI Executive Director, stressed the need for improving food security situation – one of the most effected goals of SDGs to counter rising poverty.
He said that the triple-C crisis (COVID, Climate change and Conflict) has direct implications for food security and conflicts are hindering trade and disrupting access to humanitarian supplies across the globe. He warned that food security so far had been a matter of affordability whereas next year it will be an issue of availability. He said agricultural production will decline due to limited trade of fertilizer from Russia and Ukraine.
Dr Lawrence Haddad, GAIN International, said that climate change is increasingly affecting nutrition compelling us to work harder to reach the most vulnerable. He said that Pakistan’s progress towards the global nutrition growth is uneven and off track and, in some cases, getting worse.
Arjan Dr Han, Director for South Asia IDRC, Canada said that shocks have become the new normal and food systems must build resilience to these shocks due to the recurrence and high frequency. He further said that there is a need to understand how shocks compound and their impact on vulnerable communities. He said that constant engagement between policy makers and think tanks like SDPI is crucial for informed decisions.
Arif Hussain, Chief Economist, World Food Programme, Italy said that 820 million people worldwide go to bed hungry every day, 349 million people are in a “hunger crisis” and out of these 49 million people are one step away from famine. He said that quantified global wealth is over 463 trillion dollars yet in 21st century we have poverty and food insecurity of massive proportions which is amplified by conflicts. Florence Rolle, FAO Representative in Pakistan, said that Pakistan lags behind modern farming, which is one of the reason behind high prevalence of hunger and stunting.