ISLAMABAD Dec 08 (TNS): All the mainstream political parties agreed to the proposal that a charter of economy should be decided and made it the part larger economic agenda for the welfare of people of Pakistan.
The consensus was developed at a session on Charter of Economy: Moving towards a Consensus on Socio-economic Agenda on the concluding day 20th Sustainable Development Conference organized by Sustainable Development Policy Institute Thursday.
ANP’s Former Senator Afrasiab Khattak said that the poverty rate in FATA is 73% so if charter of economy is initiated, equal focus can be given on all districts.
PPP’s Nafeesa Shah, MNA, said that the state of privatization in the charter of economy needs to be monitored and it should be checked if privatization is a success or not.
PPP’s Syed Naveed Qamar, MNA, said that the current trade deficit is increasing and the Foreign Exchange Policy needs to be revised. Privatization is more a political than an economic decision so it is recommended that privatization should be done in the first year of elections, he said.
Haroon Sharif from the World Bank suggested to merge ministries and suggested as to how decisions should be made in a volatile country like Pakistan.
PTI’s Senator Shibli Faraz said that the privatization model needs to be revised. Pakistan has only 5% of its trade with the region and more focus on flow of foreign exchange is imperative for the democratic government.
Rana Afzal, MNA, said that Pakistan is providing cheapest petroleum in the region and two energy plants have been installed to improve the energy crisis.
Senator Noman Wazir said that state-owned enterprises can only work if there is zero political involvement at micro level.
Advisor to PM on Finance Miftah Ismail said that the allegations against privatization are not fair as only 49% company ownership can be privatized. Better Privatization models should be adopted so that more profits are generated, he added.
Dr. Abid Q. Suleri, Executive Director SDPI, earlier said that this dialogue would be continued in future so that our political leadership may reach on consensus on other important aspects of our national economy as well.
Speaking at a session on ‘Climate Change-Driven Migration and Regional/Global Security’ MNA Uzair Khan said climate change is a reality and we need to aggressively pursue climate change diplomacy to ensure that we do not suffer the consequences of food insecurity, job loss and internal migration.
Former Information Minister Nisar Memon said that migration could be either permanent or temporary and it could be induced by several circumstances. Owing to sea erosion, most of migration takes place at the coastline, he said, adding that India should be asked to reduce conflict in the Siachen region.
Dr Waseem Ishaque from National Defense University said Pakistan is located atop two tectonic plates that’s why it is more likely to suffer from violent earthquakes.
Environmental Expert Dr Pervaiz Amir said that glaciers are melting fast making the water dirty and no one wants to go back to the areas from where he migrates.
Dr Iqrar Ahmed from University of Agriculture, Faisalabad, said that unpredictable events are occurring due to climate change such as floods, so there is an opportunity for research. Drawbacks of climate change are migration and it influences human development every year, he added.
Irfan Tariq from Ministry of Climate Change said provincial and regional strategies need to be devised to overcome the issue of climate change driven migration.
Ms Farzana Yaqoob said the entire Himalayan region is facing brunt of climate change and migration is going on in search of better facilities.
At a session on Citizen-centric health initiative, Rana Afzal, Parliamentary Secretary for Finance, said professionals need to lead in the policy making for budgetary allocations. “There should be less BHUs but well-equipped. Health Care Education is integral.” Bureaucrats should sensitize the parliamentarians so that the budget allocation can be achieved authentically.
Mehmood Jan, MPA, said in KP budget allocation has increased from Rs18 billion in 2013 to Rs 67 billion in 2016-17. Nabila Khan, the member of Punjab Assembly’s Task Force, said that more awareness and education of health care needs to be initiated. Tamkeen Akhtar Niazi said that preventive health and hygiene care should be launched in schools, and charity hospitals need to be working with the government. Dr Najma Afzal said that all the provinces are decentralized and budget allocation should be as per needs. Nausheen Hamid from PTI standing committee in Punjab Assembly, said the authenticity of our health care is doubtful at present and needs to be audited
Shazia Sohail , MNA, said that it is unfortunate that ground level and budget allocation has a gap and audits need to be conducted. Romina Khursheed, MNA, said that Collective initiatives will be more affective. Ejaz Hafeez, Deputy Mayor, Lahore, said that quality of medicines are important and they are being used at the BHUs.
Ihtesham Akram from Palladium said 70% of the patients in KP are asked to purchase medicines from the market.
Speaking at a session on “REDD+ for Sustainable Management of Forest and Society’, IG Forest Mehmood Nasir said we have very bright future of forest with or without international suggestion.
Ms Minahil Khan from RSIL highlighted the role of international law and the challenges and lack of implementation.
Aisha Sajjad from FJWU focused on the carbon assessment and gave the recommendations for decreasing the deforestation and carbon emission by giving the concept of carbon stock.
Anish Joshi from WWF, Islamabad discussed the definition, scales, scope of activities and technical aspects of REDD+.
Dr Waheed Chaudhry focused on the anthropogenic activities as the cause of deforestation. Mr Paul Hyun Chung CEO Coalition for Rainforest Nation, focused on the need for public and private sector coordination. Ms Fauzia Hameed being a parliamentarian stressed the need for self-realization to make REDD+ implementable.
Speaking at a session on Compliance of International Human and Labour Rights Convention in Pakistan in the Context of GSD+, Karamt Ali from PILER said GSP+ has the objective to eradicate poverty via expanding exports from impoverished countries, provide sustainable development & good governance while safeguarding the interests of the EU.
Secretary-General of Pakistan Workers Party Khusheed Ahmed said trade regimes in Pakistan do have existing and ratified laws both born from local law bodies and international bodies of law. However, implementation is the biggest challenge.
Hidayat Khan said the economic divide, along with the enforcement of near-violent methods to prevent unionisation, has created an atmosphere of workers disenfranchisement and generally low compliance with labour regulations.
Dr Khalida Ghaus from SPDC said there is a lack of worker organisations in the country that’s why labour laws are not implemented.
Abdul Qadir from FES said laws are not implemented due lack of will, serving interests of employers, and poorly staffed enforcement agencies.
Speaking at s session on Elnino poses drastic threats to Rabi crops in Pakistan, director-general Pakistan Meteorological Department Ghulam Rasool said water is the capital of the future which can save our present from national and food security issues.
Development Practionner, Shoaib Sultan Ahmad emphasized on formation of people centric policies to address issues of climate change in Pakistan
Chairman Pakistan Council of Research in Water Resources Dr Muhammad Ashraf said that inefficient use of water resources has created droughts like situation in Pakistan. ‘Better resistant, energy efficiency and climate smart housing can help to reduce the impacts of Climate Change in Pakistan.”
Director Climate Change, National Agricultural Research Centre (NARC) Dr Muhammad Munir Ahmad said that we need to formulate and adopt policies which can help to improve livelihood of the people and interventions faced by them.
Speaking at a session on ‘Transforming Higher Education System in South Asia,’ Dr Zia ul Haq, Vice- Chancellor, University of Gujrat, said the enrollment rate in higher educational institutes in Pakistan is just 9%, however, Higher Education Commission aims to increase it around 40% by the year 2015 through technology and innovation. Out of 3% of educational budget, only 1.8% is actually spent on improving quality of education.
Head of Higher Education System, Kerala, India, T. A. Sreenivasan said: “By adopting 3 E model which includes Expansion, Equity and Excellence, India has transformed its higher education system and now we are focusing on employability and entrepreneurial capabilities to improve enrollment rate.”
Dr. Samina Amin Qadir, Vice-Chancellor of Fatima Jinnah Women University, Rawalpindi stressed the need to focus on mobility, change in mindset, and provision of funds to improve the educational system. Shahid Minhas from SDPI also stressed the need to promote inter regional equity to promote Higher Education System in South Asia.
Speaking at the session on ‘Water Management and Collective Action’, Dr Tariq Banuri, Executive director of Global Change Impact Studies Centre, stressed the need for pricing for water use for irrigation purposes because agriculture consumes 90% of the freshwater supply in Pakistan.
Aatekah Mir-Khan from Nestle’ Pakistan said Nestlé has taken lead in building a collective approach to promote Water Stewardship locally by building partnerships with different stakeholders like government and civil society. A collective approach helps us not only to optimize water use in our factories but also in the watershed, agriculture and communities.
Abdul Majeed from International Union for Conservation of Nature stressed the need for an integrated approach to water resource management.
Speaking at a session on The Role of Social Protection in Eradicating Poverty: Policy and Practices, SDPI’s Dr Shehryar Toru said people lack information about social protection programmes and out of 27 SPPs, two programmes, according to his study, are majorly known such as BISP (85%) and PMNHP (93%) in the Punjab and BISP (98%) and PMNHP (18%) in KP.
Sa’ad Gillani from ILO conveyed the global consensus on the development of productive workforce without which economies cannot develop and grow. He suggested that access to social health protection and education improves productivity levels and has a positive impact on growth.
Zafar-ul-Hassan from Ministry of Planning, Development and Reforms said that National Social Protection Framework provides basic guidelines to implement SDGs. He said the Punjab is leading by having Social Protection Authority (SPA), KP is in process of establishing SPA, Sindh has yet to implement the policy, whereas Balochistan does not have any social protection policy.
To a question Sohail Chaudary from Punjab Social Protection Authority said that they have adopted a lifecycle approach to social protection. A programme for disabled persons has already been started to support lowest-income in the Punjab through a monthly cash assistance of Rs 1,200/- per month to be paid quarterly.
Speaking at a session on ‘Improving Data Foresight for Economic Policy Decisions’, Dr Ashfaque Hasan Khan from NUST said Statistical departments should be made autonomous to collect data.
Robert M. Beyer, the chief economist from the World Bank, highlighting the various benefits of gauging GDP through the use of nightlight imagery said that it’s cheap and available on a monthly frequency in real time.
Attiq-ur-Rehman from the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics said that the PBS is collecting rural CPI along with urban and national CPI in order to remove an urban biasedness in CPI.
Dr Bushra Yasmin, Professor from Fatima Jinnah Women University, added that it’s a challenge to obtain reliable time series data of economic indicators in Pakistan. She said that the use of nightlight intensity may signal low level of greenery and raise concerns about sustainable development.
Dr. Usman Mustafa, PIDE, proposed the regularization of the informal workforce and to use consumption data to roughly estimate the economy’s size. He also emphasized to have standard methodology to make the data comparable.
Umar Ikhlaque, from UNDP, mentioned that Ministry of Planning, Development & Reform is working collaboration with UNDP to produce a baseline of SDG indicators in Pakistan.
