Umar wants SDGs status report presented

A national policy framework urged for collection of data

ISLAMABAD:

Deputy Chairman Planning Commission Dr Mohammad Jahanzeb Khan on Thursday called for a “national policy framework” for the collection of data that also covers the National reporting of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

The second sub-committee of the National Economic Council (NEC) reviewed the progress of the main SDGs on poverty, unemployment, health, education, and the environment.

The meeting was presided over by Minister for Planning, Development and Special Initiatives Asad Umar and Deputy Chairman Planning Commission Dr Jahanzeb, Secretary MoPD&SI, chief statistician, and chief SDGs were in attendance.

Chief SDGs presented an overview, challenges, and proposed decisions to the forum.

He also highlighted the implementation status of the decisions from the last meeting followed by progress on Voluntarily National Review (VNR), SDGs status report, data rules for national reporting, and proposed forums for stakeholders such as the private sector, civil society, academia, think tanks, and media.

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They also discussed the existing status of SDGs implementation, institutional arrangements, and way forward by the government to align SDGs with the development framework in the country, and improve coordination for SDGs monitoring and reporting system.

Secretary MoPD&SI opened the session and welcomed the participants by giving an overview and rationale behind the constitution of the NEC sub-committee.

He further informed that there are certain decisions that require the endorsement of this esteemed forum so that the progress and such decisions may be taken up in the upcoming NEC which is scheduled to be held in January 2022.

The NEC overall showed satisfactory progress but also pointed out some of the gaps as well, and in order to reduce these gaps, the NEC proposed a task force that should be constituted involving all provincial and federal stakeholders under the chairmanship of the Chief Statistician for taking on board all federal ministries for facilitation and resource mobilisation.

NEC decided in the meeting that Pakistan will produce a country report on VNR where Pakistan will show its progress on how these gaps were filled.

Minister Asad Umar said the SDGs Status Report is the first report that should be presented at the NEC forum. The improvement in the SDG indicators would help in the budget preparation that shall be aligned with the SDGs.

He agreed to the convention of national consultation on VNR by end of January 2022.

Speaking to all the delegates, Asad Umar said the government is committed to providing all possible facilities to the most vulnerable and marginalised sections of society.

He added that the National Economic Council at the end of next month will present what progress was made to meet the 2030 milestones and what targets have to be set for the next three years apart from the proposed framework to achieve all the goals.

He has also emphasized that PBS will provide all technical support for the capacity building of Gilgit-Baltistan.

On the last agenda items, it was decided to arrange a workshop by inviting all private sector stakeholders for identifying roles and responsibilities along with identification of potential partners by federal and provincial SDGs units.