Sustainable development: Minister spells out roadmap for water, sanitation
Pakistan to host regional conference next year
The ministry’s director-general Irfan Tariq said the goals held a critical importance in accelerating and achieving sustainable development. PHOTO: NNI
ISLAMABAD:
Pakistan is taking several initiatives to meet Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), says a federal cabinet member. As part of these initiatives, the country will host South Asian Conference on Sanitation next year he added.
Pakistan fully stands with the SDGs; we have recognised the 17 goals as 17 steps essential towards a better Pakistan and become part of a better world,” Federal Minister for Climate Change Zahid Hamid said while addressing a workshop here on Monday.
“We want to give a better place for our children to live in,” the minister said .
The workshop on “Transforming Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) into Action-6” was organised by climate change ministry in collaboration with Unicef.
Hamid said his ministry’s future roadmap was based on water and sanitation hygiene, climate change resilience and engagement with international processes like “water and sanitation for all.”
He informed the audience that the ministry had developed National Sanitation Policy in 2006 and National Drinking Water Policy in 2009, a year before massive floods in the country.
The parliament had established the SDG secretariat which was now serving as a resource centre, the minister said.
“Federal and provincial governments had committed $15 million for SDG localisation in the country for five years,” the minister said.
All these measures were indicative of country’s steadfast commitment to SDGs, Hamid said.
“Pakistan is one of the few countries which met the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) sanitation target in 2015,” he said.
Punjab Minister for Housing, Urban Development and Public Health Engineering Tanveer Aslam Malik emphasised that all partners needed to act in a new way to achieve SDGs.
The ministry’s director-general Irfan Tariq said the goals held a critical importance in accelerating and achieving sustainable development.
He said the ministry had taken some concrete steps with the mandate of policy formulation. It had been on the forefront to create an enabling environment, Tariq said.
The key objective of the workshop was to initiate the process of finalising targets of SDG-6, and to track progress till 2030 and way forward for the development of national indicators, he mentioned.
“It was difficult for Pakistan to reach MDGs but due to collective efforts we met them,” UNICEF Representative Angela Kearney said.
The United Nations Resident Coordinator Neil Buhne and MNA Tahira Aurangzeb also spoke on the occasion.
Published in The Express Tribune, July 26th, 2016.
Pakistan is taking several initiatives to meet Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), says a federal cabinet member. As part of these initiatives, the country will host South Asian Conference on Sanitation next year he added.
Pakistan fully stands with the SDGs; we have recognised the 17 goals as 17 steps essential towards a better Pakistan and become part of a better world,” Federal Minister for Climate Change Zahid Hamid said while addressing a workshop here on Monday.
“We want to give a better place for our children to live in,” the minister said .
The workshop on “Transforming Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) into Action-6” was organised by climate change ministry in collaboration with Unicef.
Hamid said his ministry’s future roadmap was based on water and sanitation hygiene, climate change resilience and engagement with international processes like “water and sanitation for all.”
He informed the audience that the ministry had developed National Sanitation Policy in 2006 and National Drinking Water Policy in 2009, a year before massive floods in the country.
The parliament had established the SDG secretariat which was now serving as a resource centre, the minister said.
“Federal and provincial governments had committed $15 million for SDG localisation in the country for five years,” the minister said.
All these measures were indicative of country’s steadfast commitment to SDGs, Hamid said.
“Pakistan is one of the few countries which met the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) sanitation target in 2015,” he said.
Punjab Minister for Housing, Urban Development and Public Health Engineering Tanveer Aslam Malik emphasised that all partners needed to act in a new way to achieve SDGs.
The ministry’s director-general Irfan Tariq said the goals held a critical importance in accelerating and achieving sustainable development.
He said the ministry had taken some concrete steps with the mandate of policy formulation. It had been on the forefront to create an enabling environment, Tariq said.
The key objective of the workshop was to initiate the process of finalising targets of SDG-6, and to track progress till 2030 and way forward for the development of national indicators, he mentioned.
“It was difficult for Pakistan to reach MDGs but due to collective efforts we met them,” UNICEF Representative Angela Kearney said.
The United Nations Resident Coordinator Neil Buhne and MNA Tahira Aurangzeb also spoke on the occasion.
Published in The Express Tribune, July 26th, 2016.