Sustainable development in South Asia
strongly depends upon how well we can achieve social cohesion across regions,
faiths and ethnicities, said Syed Naveed Qamar, Federal Minister for Defense
while speaking at the opening session of 15th Annual Sustainable Development
Conference (SDC) organized by Sustainable Development Policy Institute (SDPI)
here on Tuesday.
The three-day conference titled
“Sustainable Development in South Asia: Shaping The Future” is looking at
future of sustainable development in South Asia. The conference seeks to
analyze how things will look like 20, 30 or even 50 years from now, what issues
will be looming large, making concrete suggestions on how to overcome future
challenges; and, give practical policy recommendations about a sustainable
South Asia for all.
Syed Naveed Qamar said that social
cohesion and tolerance should be the priority agenda for government and
non-governmental organizations in the region. “Going forward our
priorities must include on how the rising economic gains and access to
technology be configured in a manner that can reduce inequalities –
particularly the inequality of opportunities for our people”, the minister
added.
He said that developmental considerations
should regard social justice and respect our environment and natural resources.
Speaking on governance and role of institutions for people’s empowerment, the
minister urged on ensuring participatory democracy at the local level whereby
communities and households can feel themselves integrated and part of the
overall vision for national and regional development.
He said that Pakistan is undertaking a
foreign policy focusing on ‘looking towards Asia’. “Pakistan has played an
active role in SAARC for formulization of the processes towards setting up food
bank and supporting other regional arrangements including South Asia Free Trade
Agreement (SAFTA), he added.
He further added that
cross-border trade and investment in this region has the potential to mitigate
poverty and inequalities. “Today South Asia remains the least connected region
in the world. If we continue to be as distant as we are today, our children may
never be able to interact, talk, meet and play with their children in the
neighborhoods. Such a lost opportunity will be synonymous to a youth stolen in
the name of history’s baggage,” he said.
Speaking as key note speaker on
the occasion, the former Information Minister and Vice President, IUCN
Pakistan, Javed Jabbar said that despite diversity in every aspect and richness
of resources, the South Asia region still faces significant stresses and
shortages in water, food and energy sector. He said that the region needs to
bank upon commonalities while thinking and acting collectively.
He identified seven elements essential
in shaping the future of South Asia, including environmental security; economic
equity; moderating consumption and conservation; democratic reforms for greater
accountability and improved governance; respect for all religions and
ethnicities; military restraints by India, Pakistan and other countries to
strengthen peace and civil supremacy in the region, and lastly the greater
social stability. He also suggested of introduction of a ‘Green Budget’
before the presentation of fiscal budget in parliament.
Earlier, Dr. Saeed Shafqat, chairman
Board of Governors, SDPI welcomed participants at the conference and said, ‘For
a prosperous and secure future, South Asia needs to move away from an ‘economy
of war,’ towards an ‘economy of peace’. He further added that an inclusive and
equitable economic growth must be ensured through redistribution of power
structures.
Dr. Abid Suleri, Executive Director of
SDPI, said that the choices that policy makers make today will determine ‘how
the future may unfold in South Asia’. He also shared the positive role
that SDPI is playing in socio-economic development in Pakistan and across the
region.
Panelists at session ‘Will media be a
catalyst for change?’ discussed the role of media in stimulating change in
society. They unanimously agreed that forms and formats of media are changing
rapidly where social media are not only informing at fast pace but is also
linking individuals, groups, societies. Mohammad Malick from Dunya News was of
the view that media is a catalyst for change but it depends upon which side of
picture is being looked at. Farrukh Pitafi from ‘News One’ said that even if
there are laws regarding media they are not relevant and rational.
Moneeza Hashmi, President, Commonwealth Broadcast Association said that over
the years, radio channels have mushroomed providing entertainment, sports and
twenty four seven news coverage to people. Badar Alam, Editor Herald said that
“journalism is going to get worse before it gets better.” Fahad Hussain from
Waqt News talked of role of advertisement in influencing media content and
maintained that often media is used by certain groups through their financial
influence.
During session on public financing of
education in Pakistan, Hamza Abbas Research Analyst at SDPI said that public
expenditure on education is directly linked with economic growth and tax
revenue collections. He said that government and civil society can jointly
initiate tracking of primary education budget by improving its tax collection
system by means of increasing powers of tax revenue departments. Zohair Zaidi from Oxfam
GB said that donors must make aid flows more predictable and reliable.
Tassaduq Rasul, Country Director Action Aid Islamabad said that to
improve education, it is essential to build accountability mechanism, tracking
systems and education management concepts. They concluded that Pakistan has not
been able to achieve primary education related targets and a major reason for
this is lack of financial resources.
The
session on “Dynamics of Non Traditional Security Threats“ analyzed the
nontraditional security threats in the context of conflict raised due to energy
and climate change. Tahir Dhindsa of SDPI expressed that international
beneficiary systems are directly integrated with the petroleum resources and
sovereignty of the states. Khurram Javed from Diplomatic Academy, Azerbaijan
stressed on implementation of IP, TAPI and Trans-Caspian projects for
initiating development in the region. Naeem Akram from Economic Affairs
Division, Pakistan identified inflation, change in temperature and
precipitation as major impediment in growth and threat for human and food
security. Human development index was also considered as an important factor in
determining the Climate change vulnerability and conflict. Dr. Saba Gul
Khattak, Member BoG, SDPI, concluded the session with view that “The heart of
the conflict lies in the difference of logic in politics and science and it
needs to be work out at earliest”.
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