Media Coverage December 8, 2005
 Efforts Afoot to Sustain Economic Growth Rate
Business Recorder, Islamabad
December 08, 2005
Advisor to Prime Minister on finance and revenue Dr Salman Shah has said that government has made all necessary arrangements to sustain the growth rate of above 8 percent. He was speaking at the inaugural session of 3-day conference organised by Sustainable Development Policy Institute (SDPI) here on Wednesday.
Dr Salman said the government has introduced the concept of sustainable development in all major policy documents, which would be strictly followed. He said the government was working towards gender equality by involving women in every field of economic activity on an equal footing.
SDPI chairperson Saba Gul Khattak shared how the Institute had followed a decentralised approach. "The conference revolves around six themes instead of one overarching central one discussing women's and gender issues in several contexts to try to make sense of the international system, the opportunities and challenges presented by WTO, poverty and child labour, livelihoods and security as well as people's rights and issues of peace at the national, regional and international levels," she said.
SDPI Board of Governors Chairman, Shamsul Mulk gave an overview of the institute's work and a brief historical background of the conference series.
In the session on 'Earthquake: Injuries, Disabilities, Traumas and Rehabilitation', Dr Shafqat Shehzad of SDPI disclosed that around 75 percent of the international donations for the recent earthquake were loans. She said out of 564 health care facilities in the quake-hit areas, 74 were partially and 299 completely destroyed, leaving 199 functional only. Muhammad Sabir from UNDP while presenting his paper emphasised the need of mainstreaming gender into all stages of the budget cycle. Dr Tayyab Tahir from Cardiff University, UK, stressed that women and children were most affected in the quake and suggested long-term counselling and pension for the disabled women. Dr Najma Najam of Fatima Jinnah Women University emphasised that counselling workshops should also be conducted in rural areas.
The session on 'Health Service Delivery' proposed that the government should involve the private sector in the health care delivery as money alone cannot meet the targets set in the MDGs. Dr Hans Frey from BHEF presented a model of using information communication technology in providing health care services.
On the panel titled 'Displacement, Livelihoods and Rights: Gendered Experiences,' Dr Sania Nishter discussed the impact of transnational corporations on peasant women; linkages between gender discrimination and women's trafficking; and the future of Afghans in Pakistan with a particular focus on the vulnerabilities of women. Azra Talat Syed talked about the onslaught of globalisation and the resultant trade liberalisation and WTO-related policies in the agriculture sector. She recommended people's ownership over means of production as the only viable solution to the problem. Zia Awan while making linkages between violence against women and trafficking talked about socio-customary practices where women are treated as commodities.
Govt taking Appropriate Measures for Sustainable Development: Salman
The Daily Mail, Islamabad
December 08, 2005
By Asad Cheema
Advisor to Prime Minister on Finance, Revenue and Economic Affairs Dr. Salman Shah said Wednesday the government is fully cognizant of the socio-economic problems of the people and taking appropriate measures for the sustainable development of the country.
Speaking at inaugural session of the Eighth Sustainable Development Conference organized by Sustainable Development Policy Institute (SDPI) here the Advisor said Pakistan is moving on fast track of development and has managed to attain second top position among the Asian developing countries during last year.
He said the country has achieved significant progress in economic and social sector, adding, this course of progress will create vital impact in the betterment of the people. "Poverty Reduction is the main issue and government is working on Millennium Development Programme for bringing about betterment in the lifestyle of the people", he added. He said the country is facing big challenges on many fronts including water, energy and maintaining of sustained growth rate.
Dr. Salman Shah said the different value chains in the country have to be upgraded to achieve an desired pace of progress. He said, " We have to acquire better technology, infrastructure to accelerate the pace of development and economic growth."
We have asked the private power producers to generate more production to meet the growing need of energy in the country", he added. He said that North South linkage will enhance linkage of Karachi with other parts of the country, he said. Advisor to Prime Minister said "We are putting lot of efforts for promotion of higher education in order to improve standard of education at the Universities level. We are focusing on establishing of education chain from primary level to higher level." He said "we are also looking to improve lifestyle of the people particularly of the rural areas."
He said the government is also focussing on improvement of other areas of development including service and gender sector. The appointment of female governor of State Bank for the first time in the history of the country reflects " our commitment towards improving the status of women in the society." Advisor to the Prime Minister on Finance Dr.Salman Shah that Pakistan is in the midst of a impressive economic performance in decades.
Our economic achievement since the turn of the century has been acknowledged globally", he remarked. He said "Yet, at the same time we have recently experienced the worst natural disaster in the country's living history, an event that has proved to be a somber reminder of the task that still remains unfulfilled as far as our goal of eradicating poverty is concerned." Dr.Salman said the earthquake end the devastation it left behind as its legacy has underscored not only the importance of uniform development, but also the necessity of inducing sustainability into the development framework. The concept of sustainable development interestingly is one, which is often wrongly perceived as being of secondary importance for the Government of Pakistan.
He assured that Government remains cognizant of the importance of ensuring that our country's development is sustainable - sustainable in every meaning of the term. The necessity of treating development and sustainability as complementary components of every government package continues to be at the forefront of our policy formulations, he remarked.
The link between the environmental protection and poverty alleviation, he said is an undeniable and though not always well understood, remains an active ingredient of government's policy designs. The Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper and the current Medium Term Development Framework both highlight the importance of the environment and its link with livelihoods of citizens, the vulnerability of the poor and its impact on human health, he remarked.
He highlighted some of the Government's achievements in the economic and social sectors, both of which go a long way in ensuring sustainability of development. Advisor to Prime Minister on Finance Dr.Salman Shah said that Government since early 2000 has been pursuing a development strategy of GDP growth of over 7% by pushing agriculture, information technology and small and medium enterprises (SMEs) for their potential to quickly revive growth and generate employment opportunities with relatively low investment.
The Oil and Gas sector is also accorded priority essentially to reduce vulnerability to energy imports and conserve foreign exchange. At the strategic level, he said the government has taken a number of measures to accelerate growth in productive sectors of the economy.
Conference on Sustainable Development
Daily Times, Islamabad
December 08, 2005
By Zahid Hameed
The three-day conference on sustainable development began on Wednesday. The Sustainable Development Policy Institute has arranged the conference. Researchers, academicians and, scholars attended the event, The speakers made presentations on issues concerning women, employment, trade, gov ernance, health, peace, child labour and human rights.
Dr Salman Shah, the prime minister's advisor on finance, opened the conference and said that the provision of better health facilities to the masses was one of the main objectives of the government. Dr Shafqat Riaz, a researcher, said the government had failed to cut down the maternal mortality rate in the country because of under-funding in the health sector.
Dr Sania Nishtar called for increased public-private partnerships in delivery of health services to remote areas. "The government should use the private sector's services for vaccination, immunisation and other health services," she said.
Greater Focus on Accompanying Reforms Stressed
Dawn, Islamabad
December 08, 2005
The trade liberalization and other trade reforms must be followed by a greater focus on accompanying reforms, such as governance, institutional strengthening and infrastructure development, to become a more effective tool for development and poverty reduction in developing countries, including Pakistan.
This was observed by speakers at the 8th sustainable development conference held here on Wednesday. The three-day conference was organized by the Sustainable Development Policy Institute (SDPI) that has brought together renowned experts from around the world enriching the discourse on different aspects of sustainable development. They said it was also necessary that these reforms were domestically owned so that they respond to the specific needs of the countries involved. And there should be much coherence among various stakeholders before finalizing any strategy.
Abu Eusuf from Bangladesh in his paper "trade liberalization and poverty" highlighted Bangladesh's experience that showed changes in its economy as a result of liberalization.
Suggesting that winners as well as losers emerge from policy changes, he said while large and medium-scale enterprises had gained form a competition for opening up of trade, unskilled labour and small-scale businesses had suffered, thus suggesting that while overall gains were made, they were inequitable in nature. Dr Abid Suleri (SDPI) emphasized this point in his presentation, which favoured greater policy coherence so that benefits of trade are fully exploited. He stressed the use of pro-poor growth policies rather than simple growth policies. Mr Suleri said civil society should work as a bridge between the government and consumers. He was of the opinion that there was a lack of coordination among ministries over various issues.
Shandana Gulzar of the National Institute of the WTO pointed out gaps in the Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper. In order to increase the competitiveness of Pakistani agricultural products after trade barriers are removed under the WTO, she proposed the development of rural and export markets for agricultural products in Pakistan. Dismissing trade as the only answer to poverty reduction, she emphasized the need for greater access to an improved justice system and governance reforms. She stressed the need for checks on inflation and external shock-absorbing mechanisms and said domestic reforms needed to be undertaken side by side with policy reforms to properly reap the benefits of trade liberalization.
UNDP's country representative Jan J. Vandemoortele while discussing the papers presented said the WTO regime imposed one-sided reforms on the member countries, which was unfair. He was of the opinion that the WTO took away the spirit of national policy from the member countries as it imposed a similar condition on all countries having diverse position. The UNDP representative said: " We must be clear about it and the policy should be devised according to the region."
At another panel discussion, Azra Talat Sayeed talked about the onslaught of globalization and the resultant trade liberalization and WTO-related policies in the agriculture sector and stressed that the WTO should stay out of agriculture. She recommended people's ownership over means of production as the only viable solution to the problem.
Sustaining Economic Growth Big Challenge
Dawn, Karachi
December 08, 2005
Adviser to the prime minister on finance Dr Salman Shah on Wednesday said the government was trying to sustain the economic growth it had achieved last year. He was speaking at the inaugural session of the eighth three- day sustainable development conference organized by the Sustainable Development Policy Institute (SDPI).
He said after the October 8 earthquake it was a great challenge for Pakistan to sustain its last year's growth by making different strata of society to play equitable roles in the production process. He said the government was putting more money into universities to increase the ratio of enrolment as at present only 2.5 per cent of the students could go to universities. He said the government was also aware of the value of clean environment and its relevance to poverty alleviation. Mr Shah said the government needed 10 per cent increase in its energy consumption every year to sustain its economic growth rate. He said the government was also trying to reach at a consensus over the construction of big water reservoirs.
In her welcome address, Dr Saba Gul Khattak, executive director of the SDPI, said she was pessimistic about the economic performance of the country where many people could not afford their basic needs. She said in many parts of Punjab farmers had burnt their crops in protest after they sensed elimination from the international trade following the implementation of WTO in the agriculture sector. She urged the need for alternative research that could gauge the impacts of various economic and environmental projects. For example, she said, the schools opened to reduce child labour had increased the number of child workers as children had to start work somewhere in order to get admission to the schools.
Govt asked to Make Policies according to Social Conditions
The Nation, Islamabad
December 08, 2005
The speakers at 3 day conference on Sustainable Development has asked the government in particular and the world in general to keep the socio-economic conditions and ethics in mind while making any policy. On the first day of the conference organized by SDPI here on Wednesday, various panels discussed the problems being faced by Pakistan, the region and the world. They called for an end to gender inequalities, unfair world trade order and injustices.
In a panel discussion on "The Earthquake: Injuries, Disabilities, Traumas and Rehabilitation" Dr Shafqat Shehzad of SDPI said that around 75 percent of the international donations for the recent earthquake victims rehabilitation were loans. He said out of 564 health care facilities in the earthquake-hit area, 74 partially and 299 were completely destroyed, leaving only 199 functional.
Muhammad Sabir, from UNDP in his presentation emphasized the need for mainstreaming gender into all stages of the budget cycle. Iftikhar N Hasan from Fatima Jinnah University and Dr Tayyab Tahir from Cardiff University, UK, said women and children are the most affected and suggested long-term counseling and pension for the disabled women. The Chair, Dr Najma Najam of Fatima Jinnah Women University, said that counseling workshops should also be conducted in rural areas.
The session on Health Service Delivery proposed that the government should involve the private sector in the health care delivery, as money alone cannot meet the targets set in the MDGs. Dr Talib Lashari said that the trade related intellectual property rights bar a signatory to manufacture the traditional medicines. He further said that there is no realization that international politico-economic actions have an adverse impact on the health care services.
The panel titled Displacement, Livelihoods and Rights discussed the impact of transnational corporations on peasant women; linkages between gender discrimination and women's trafficking; and the future of Afghans in Pakistan with a particular focus on the vulnerabilities of women. Ms Azra Talat Sayeed talked about the onslaught of globalization and the resultant trade liberalization and WTO-related policies in the agricultural sector and stressed that WTO should stay out of agriculture. She recommended people's ownership over means of production as the only viable solution to the problem. Zia Awan while making linkages between violence against women and trafficking talked about socio customary-practices where women are treated as objects and commodities. Rubina Saigol of Action Aid suggested that trafficking should also be linked to the phenomenon of globalization.
Abu Eusuf from Bangladesh, in his paper "Trade Liberalization and Poverty" narrating the Bangladesh experience presented both sides of the picture and showed the changes in the Bangladeshi economy as a result of liberalization. Dr Abid Suleri from SDPI in his presentation suggested the use of pro-poor growth policies rather than simple growth policies. Shandana Gulzar from the National Institute of the WTO emphasized the need for greater access to an improved justice system and governance. She stressed upon the need for checks on inflation and external shock-absorbing mechanisms and said that domestic reforms needed to be undertaken side by side with policy reforms to properly reap the benefits of trade liberalization.
Steps on for Sustainable Development: Dr Salman
The Nation, Islamabad
December 08, 2005
By Haq Nawaz
Adviser to Prime Minister on Finance and Revenue, Dr Salman Shah Wednesday vowed to achieve 17 percent growth in revenue collection during the ongoing fiscal year 2005-06. He expressed these views in his inaugural speech in a 3-day 8th Sustainable Development Conference, organised by Sustainable Development Policy Institute (SDPI) with the support of Action aid, DFID and other agencies here on Wednesday. Dr Salman said: "Our national economy is the second fast growing in the region after China and we are hopeful to sustain the economic growth in the future after we succeeded to cross the eight per cent digit in the last fiscal 2004-05."
Executive Director of the SDPI Dr Saba Gul Khattak in her welcome address apprised the audience about the importance and need of the conference and announced that a book on "Sustainable Development in the Age of Extremes" has also been launched in the conference. She raised some questions about the gender discriminations in the country. Stressing the empowerment of women and giving them due share in every sphere of life, she criticised the poor conditions of women in the country especially in the rural areas. The women in farm sector have been given preference over men only as a cheap labour, she lamented.
Chairman Board of Governors of SDPI and former Chairman WAPDA Shamsul Mulk in his brief comments updated the participants about the previous seven conferences and its success.
Dr Salman Shah indicated that the overall growth was in a rise as almost every macro-economic indicators were showing an upward trend. The growth in revenue is likely to be around 17 per cent due to the active economic activities, increase trends in imports, exports and consistent rise in Foreign Direct Investment (FDI), Dr Shah maintained. He said the energy sector has registered around 10 per cent growth in the previous year 2004-05 and the government was focusing to get the acquired results from the power and energy sectors. The government was also concentrating on the progressive energy sector development plan, he added.
Highlighting the government's steps for promotion of higher education, he mentioned that the government had increased allocation in the budget for the fiscal under review. However, he termed the present ratio of enrolment in the university level as very low and informed that the government wants to increase the ratio from 2.5 per cent to 8pc. Dr Shah pointed out that the government was also concentrating on the uplift of primary and informal education to raise the ratio of literacy in general.
Further raising the level of lending under micro-finance in the rural areas of the country was a priority of the present government, he said, adding that this will help improving the lives of the people of the rural areas. "The government has also introduced the devolution plan under this the district governments have been established and the plan will be further make strengthen which will provide different basic services at their door steps."
Steps being taken for Sustainable Development
Pakistan Observer, Islamabad
December 08, 2005
By Zubair Qureshi
Advisor to Prime Minister on Finance, Revenue and Economic Affairs Dr. Salman Shah said Wednesday the government is fully cognizant of the socio-economic problems of the people and taking appropriate measures for the sustainable development of the country.
Speaking at inaugural session of the Eight Sustainable Development Conference organized by Sustainable Development Policy Institute (SDPI) here the Advisor said Pakistan is moving on fast track of development and has managed to attain second top position among the Asian developing countries during last year.
He said the country has achieved significant progress in economic and social sector, adding, this course of progress will create vital impact in the betterment of the people. "Poverty Reduction is the main issue and government is working on Millennium Development Programme for bringing about betterment in the lifestyle of the people", he added.
He said the country is facing big challenges on many fronts including water, energy and maintaining of sustained growth rate. Dr. Salman Shah said the different value chains in the country have to be upgraded to achieve an desired pace of progress. He said, "we have to acquire better technology, infrastructure to accelerate the pace of development and economic growth". "We have asked the private power producers to generate more production to meet the growing need of energy in the country", he added.
He said that North South linkage will enhance linkage of Karachi with other parts of the country, he said. Advisor to Prime Minister said "We are putting lot of efforts for promotion of higher education in order to improve standard of education at the Universities level". "We are focusing on establishing of education chain from primary level to higher level". He said, "we are also looking to improve lifestyle of the people particularly of the rural areas".
He said the government is also focussing on improvement of other areas of development including service and gender sector. The appointment of female governor of State Bank for the first time in the history of the country reflects "our commitment towards improving the status of women in the society". Advisor to the Prime Minister on Finance Dr.Salman Shah that Pakistan is in the midst of a impressive economic performance in decades. "Our economic achievement since the turn of the century has been acknowledged globally", he remarked.
He said "Yet, at the same time we have recently experienced the worst natural disaster in the country's living history, an event that has proved to be a somber reminder of the task that still remains unfulfilled as far as our goal of eradicating poverty is concerned".
Dr.Salman said the earthquake end the devastation it left behind as its legacy has underscored not only the importance of uniform development, but also the necessity of inducing sustainability into the development framework. The concept of sustainable development interestingly is one, which is often wrongly perceived as being of secondary importance for the Government of Pakistan.
He assured that Government remains cognizant of the importance of ensuring that our country's development is sustainable - sustainable in every meaning of the term. The necessity of treating development and sustainability as complementary components of every government package continues to be at the forefront of our policy formulations, he remarked.
"We have clearly highlighted the importance of sustainable development in all major policy documents, which provide direction to the Government", he remarked. Specifically, he said with regards to the environment, which is of course an integral part of sustainable development. " We understand that it means more than simply issuing directives to protect our natural habitat", he remarked. Environment, he said " in fact constitutes a life support function' without which whose sound health, nighter we nor the generations to come can prosper".
Sustainable Economic Growth to be Achieved to Benefit Poor People
The Statesman, Peshawar
December 08, 2005
By Naveed Miraj
Prime Minister's Advisor on Finance Dr. Salman Shah has said government is concentrating on promoting competitiveness in the economy to benefit from global ization.
He was inaugurating the 8th Sustainable Development Conference, which has been arranged by the Sustainable Development Policy Institute Islamabad on Wednesday. He said after improving economy sustainable economic growth is now the greatest challenge before the government for improving life of the common man.
Dr. Salman Shah said for this purpose the government is now focusing on improving physical infrastructure, energy resources and resolve water issues, which would be helpful in speedy eco nomic growth. He said energy demand is growing at the rate of ten percent annually while country is facing water shortage and this issue needs to be resolved on emergency basis. Beside this, he said, a comprehensive plan has been chalked out for the development of road network from the south to north with a view to upgrade logistics, which plays a vital role in economic development.
The Advisor said special attention is also being paid on the education with a focus to ensure greater enrolment of at least two point five percent pop ulation in the higher education institutions and hundred percent enrolment in the primary education, which will be the primary input in the economy.
Turning to the efforts towards poverty reduction, Dr. Salman Shah said various programmes have been launched to generate economic activities in the rural areas besides launching Khushaal Pakistan programme, which will help bring positive change in the socio-economic set up in the rural areas. In this regard he also mentioned devolution programme, which has been launched to improve ser vice delivery through local government at grass root level.
The three-day conference, will discuss issues of sustainable development in environment, socio-economic sector, WTO challenges, poverty, peace, child labour, gender and human rights i ssues. |
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