ISLAMABAD: President Mamnoon Hussain, Tuesday
called for joint efforts by the South Asian countries to eliminate
poverty and inequality and to achieve the global development goals.
Addressing
the inaugural session of 17th Sustainable Development Conference here,
the President called the need for developing a mechanism to address the
challenges that were impacting the process for a prosperous and
developed region.
President Mamnoon said that Pakistan gives high priority to the goals of sustainable development.
He emphasized 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 would promote economic progress, social justice and
environmental protection.
He said the
Sustainable Development Goals like the Millennium Development Goals
would help the governments to develop their national development
strategies in the region.
The President said
that Pakistan has 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
emphasized 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. He said it reflected the government's neutral and open
policy for the promotion of research activities.
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://www.brecorder.com/top-news/1-front-top-news/209772-president-for-joint-efforts-by-south-asian-states-for-sustainable-development.html
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