Ahsan Iqbal recalls Pakistan’s commitment in implementing SDGs in partnering with its private sector

NEW YORK, July 12 (SABAH): Minister for Planning, Development and Special Initiatives Ahsan Iqbal Chaudhry has called for an international relief to the countries hit hard by COVID-19 and international price hike to implement the Sustainable Development Goals.

Virtually addressing the United Nations Global Compact to implement SDGs on Tuesday, Ahsan Iqbal also recalled Pakistan’s commitment in implementing SDGs in partnering with its private sector.

The Minister said Pakistan was among those countries which adopted Sustainable Development Goals as National Development Goals. He said we tried to take ownership for this agenda from the very beginning and persuaded our people and businesses community that this is not a global agenda but our own national agenda.

Ahsan Iqbal said we organized a national level summit as part of our vision 2025 in which private sector was invited and they were given co-ownership of the whole agenda. We have worked very closely with the private sector to fully contribute in this regard.

Regarding Climate Change, he said we produce the lowest Carbon footprint in the world but we are among the top ten most vulnerable countries as far as the climate change is concerned. We have sensitized the private sector to take leadership role in promoting renewable energy and now government is very actively working with the private sector for solarisation of power generation systems so that we could have clean energy in Pakistan.

The Minister said we have also partnered with the private sector to create more job opportunities for our youth that comprises two third of Pakistan’s population, therefore job creation is the fundamental challenge that our country is facing. To make their employability easier, we have started a program that offers internships and apprenticeship to the educated youth.

Similarly, to eliminate waste and all sorts of pollution, we have started a program to reward the private sector working for this purpose. We organized a national conference involving academia and private sector for turnaround Pakistan in which SDGs were one of the key elements of this conference.

He said our private sector has always contributed heavily through their corporate social responsibility towards the goals of SDGs and now with this partnership we are aligning their expenditure with the priority SDGs areas.

The Minister said we have also started major advocacy program to sensitize small and medium enterprises to start SDGs practices.