Global social protection platform to fill knowledge gap: Dr Sania

Taking a lead on universal social protection, the Permanent Mission of Pakistan to the United Nations convened the first meeting of the Group of Friends on Social Protection along with Turkey, Nigeria and Costa Rica.

The meeting was attended by a large number of UN member states on Saturday.

In her keynote address, Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Poverty Alleviation and Social Protection Senator Dr Sania Nishtar highlighted Pakistan's efforts to disburse cash payments of US $1.25 billion to more than 160 million of its citizens in dire need of financial support to meet the challenges posed by a global economic slowdown due to Covid-19 pandemic.

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She highlighted the absence of a formal mechanism for experience-sharing between ministries of poverty alleviation and social assistance, adding that multilateral system social protection was almost an orphan area in terms of government-to-government exchanges.

Therefore, Dr Sania maintained that the intention was to launch a global government-to-government social protection platform as a starting point to achieve universal social protection.

She added, "The Global Social Protection Platform will be a new initiative currently filling an important knowledge gap in the global social protection landscape."