Sustainable Development Goals: Punjab inaugurates SDG support unit

Unit would provide requisite evidence, analysis and debate on public policy

LAHORE: Punjab Finance Minister Dr Aisha Ghaus Pasha has said that the province fully supported the Sustainable Development Goals and it was aligning its resources to achieve them.

Pasha, while inaugurating the Punjab SDGs support unit at Punjab Planning and Development department on Wednesday, emphasised the need to address governance issues confronting the implementation of SDGs, especially the issue of inequality.

“We should act collectively for our future generations. Therefore, priority-setting for SDGs should be done at the highest political level.”

The SDGs Support Unit has been established by the Planning & Development Department with technical assistance from UNDP and the Planning Commission of Pakistan.

Addressing the ceremony, Planning & Development Board Chairman Muhammad Jehanzeb Khan emphasised the need to have a robust analysis of Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) to understand the causes of Pakistan’s poor performance.

He further highlighted the need for a solid framework for SDGs that builds on concrete lessons and how policies and investments can be aligned so that they become the touchstone for achievement of SDGs.

Speaking on the occasion, Uzma Bukhari, MPA and Convener of SDGs Task Force, said that it was heartening to note that Punjab was the first province to have the SDGs Support Unit operational, which showed Punjab government’s ownership of the SDGs.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 1^st, 2016.

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