Media Coverage

Islamabad - President Mamnoon Hussain on Tuesday called for joint efforts to eliminate poverty and inequality in South Asia to achieve the global development goals.
Addressing the inaugural session of 17th Sustainable Development Conference organised by Sustainable Development Policy Institute (SDPI) here, the president stressed the need for developing a mechanism to address the challenges that were impacting the process for a prosperous and developed region. He said that Pakistan gave high priority to the goals of sustainable development. He emphasised the need for improvement in the lives of people by strengthening areas of social sector, peace and public welfare.
He stressed that resources should be used for the betterment of lives of people by taking steps for sustainable development rather than taking temporary measures. President Mamnoon said sustainable development would ensure stability in the region and promote economic progress, social justice and environmental protection. He said the sustainable development goals like the millennium development goals would help the governments develop their national development strategies in the region.
The president said that Pakistan had prepared effective strategy in line with the Vision 2025 to achieve the sustainable development goals. He mentioned that the Kathmandu Declaration also focused on mutual collaboration among the SAARC countries for ensuring sustainable development in the region.
The president emphasised the importance of the role played by civil society, policy think tanks, intellectuals, private sector and media to find solutions to the problems of sustainable development. He lauded SDPI for giving recommendations to the government on food security, energy, economy, social sector, environmental changes and Vision 2025.
Speaking on the occasion, Minister for Planning Dr Ahsan Iqbal stressed the need for innovative and out-of-the-box solutions to deal with the development issues confronting the South Asian countries. He said South Asian region was facing the problems of malnourishment, illiteracy, infant mortality and health in particular. He called for getting to know about the problems and then making effective strategies for their solution.
Earlier, Abid Qayyum Suleri, executive director SDPI, in his welcome address highlighted the salient features of the annual conference.

Source : http://nation.com.pk/islamabad/10-Dec-2014/president-for-joint-efforts-to-end-poverty