Pakistan has given top priority to the subject of population & its development: President Alvi

ISLAMABAD, July 12 (SABAH): President Dr. Arif Ali says in order to promote sustainable and inclusive socio-economic development, the world needs to address the issues related to population, including poverty, health problems and illiteracy.

In his message on World Population Day, President Dr. Arif Alvi he is delighted that Pakistan and member countries of the United Nations are commemorating World Population Day, an annual event since 1989, to highlight the significance of population-related matters and issues.

He said that the theme of this year’s world population day “A world of 8 billion: Towards a resilient future for all – Harnessing opportunities and ensuring rights and choices for all” is pertinent as in November 2022, the world population will reach the 8 billion mark.

He said that in order to promote sustainable and inclusive socio-economic development, the world needs to address the issues related to population, including poverty, health problems, illiteracy, and violation of human which is possible if we are able to narrow the gap between alarming disparities and biases in gender, age, origin, ethnicity, disability, class, and religion.

“We need to work together very closely to achieve agenda 2030 by anticipating and understanding the way our population is changing. This is possible if we develop unique responses based on data to mitigate potentially negative effects to fully harness the opportunities that also come with demographic change” he said.

President Dr. Arif Alvi said that Pakistan has given top priority to the subject of population and its development. The Council of Common Interests has approved a set of eight recommendations and the National Action Plan (NAP) in consultation with the provincial and regional governments to address the matters related to population in the country inclusively, he said.

“Our data suggests that almost half of the pregnancies in the country are unwanted due to the lack of access to contraceptives. The country is focusing on this issue and will be able to drastically curtail our increasing population in the short term, until demographic transition as seen throughout the world takes over” he said.

President Dr. Arif Alvi said that he is hopeful that Pakistan will take every step possible to fulfill its international commitments and implement the CCI’s recommendations and the National Action Plan on population while taking all stakeholders and implementing partners on board. “I am happy to note that Provincial & Regional governments, Civil Society Organizations and the private sector have joined hands with the Federal Government to advance the agenda of population and development in the country” he said.

Meanwhile Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif says World Population Day underlines our shared challenge of rendering populations into demographic dividends through policies that ensure socio-economic rights.

In a tweet, PM Shehbaz Sharif said we are working toward aligning our development priorities with needs of our people on long-term basis.