SDGs agenda complements Pakistan’s Vision 2025: PM

Lahore: Prime Minister Muhammad Nawaz Sharif Sunday said the global Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) agenda complemented Pakistan's "Vision 2025" which was reflective  of the country's development needs and priorities.

Addressing the UN Summit for the Adoption of the Post-2015  Development Agenda in New York, the Prime Minister said the  "Vision 2025" provided a policy framework for the integration of  new goals in Pakistan's national economic and development planning."It is also a blueprint of our political commitment to the process," he told the gathering attended by the world leaders.He informed the world body that his government had initiated a series of wide-ranging reforms, aimed at expanding the resource- base, stemming illicit capital outflows and ensuring optimized use of existing resources.

"We are equally aware of the importance of a robust monitoring and follow-up mechanism for effective and full implementation of the SDGs in Pakistan. Elaborate coordination and oversight procedures have accordingly been put in place, at both the national and the provincial levels," he added.

Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif said he was delighted to join the international leadership at this defining moment."By adopting the Post-2015 Development Agenda, we, as the global community, are committing ourselves to a shared vision of inclusive growth and development, ensuring that `no one is left behind'."

It was an agenda reflective of both ambition and action in joint effort against poverty, hunger and human deprivation, the Prime Minister said.
Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif said the world community at the beginning of this century, had committed to a development agenda that brought international focus on poverty eradication and human development.
      
The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) reshaped decision making processes and redefined national priorities by putting people and their needs at the center, he added.
He said over a billion people were rescued from extreme poverty, while substantial gains were also made in defeating hunger, illiteracy and disease.

The Prime Minister said the accomplishments made through the MDGs were varied and unevenly diffused as was evident by witnessing poverty, inequality, and lack of opportunity, that remain stark realities of time.He described the Post-2015 Development Agenda as collective response to these challenges and said it was a giant leap forward.       
He said the 17 broad and cross-cutting Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and the 169 associated targets charted a development- centric and growth-oriented pathway.
He said the agenda focussed on sustainable development; social justice, environmental stewardship and economic well-being.       

Nawaz Sharif termed it an agenda of change, that enjoys inherent vitality, as well as wide social acceptability.He said the focus was on transforming economies and livelihoods, building cohesive, just and peaceful societies, and protecting the planet, while poverty eradication remained at its
core."Our journey does not end here. It has only just begun," he said and termed the scope and magnitude of this new development framework as "enormous".
      
He said delivering on it would require unwavering political will, both at the national and the international levels.He particularly pointed out that its implementation would require a paradigm shift in political, social, economic, and developmental outlook. "We know from our national experience that strong and sustained economic growth has to be at the heart of any effort to
achieve these goals."

The Prime Minister mentioned that key development priorities, including employment generation, energy security, demographic challenge, disaster risk-reduction, and governance entail expanding access to energy and infrastructure, and making these available to a larger proportion of the population.He said it was equally important to address systemic issues and structural constraints and added credible and realistic data were vital for success.He stressed that meaningful implementation of this agenda demanded matching resources.

The Prime Minister said the `Addis Ababa Action Agenda' provided a promising start as it complemented the means of implementation outlined in the new development framework."We must deliver on these commitments, as development strategies remain, first and foremost, national undertakings. Eradication of poverty, hunger and disease, and provision of a better living are amongst our abiding commitments to our people."

The Prime Minister said the global leadership also had a historic opportunity to reverse the threatening tide of climate change."We must, therefore, negotiate an outcome in Paris that is fair, equitable and guided by the principles of the UN Climate Change Convention," he added."While we will do our part, we look forward to a reinvigorated global partnership that promotes and complements domestic policies and priorities, in line with our developmental needs," the Prime Minister said in his concluding remarks.