Experts call for eco-friendly commercial growth

Bilateral trade with EU up 78% since Pakistan’s inclusion in GSP-Plus programme

KARACHI:

Striking a balance between environmental conservation and industrialdevelopment is integral to the sustained social and economic growth, said a top official of the World Wildlife Fund-Pakistan.

Bilateral trade between Pakistan and the European Union has soared by over 78 per cent between 2014 and 2023 since Pakistan's inclusion, alongside 13 other countries, in the General Scheme of Preferences (GSP+). This was disclosed at a workshop organised by WWF-Pakistan on Thursday.

WWF-Pakistan Director of the Freshwater Programme Sohail Ali Naqvi highlighted the need for an efficient reporting mechanism to monitor national efforts and the country's progress towards sustainable development.

The workshop was held with the aim to address challenges related to environmental compliance and establish an effective mechanism to monitor and report provincial and national progress in line with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and Multilateral Environmental Agreements (MEAs).

Naqvi provided insights into Pakistan's GSP+ status and highlighted the substantial trade concessions that have resulted from it. He also presented an overview of the ILES project and its contributions to SDGs and MEAs, highlighting the tool developed under the project for reporting on SDGs 12 - Responsible Consumption and Production.

Dr. Masood Arshad, Senior Director Programmes at WWF-Pakistan, underscored the organisation's commitment to balancing environmental conservation, sustainable resource utilisation, and community and industrial development. He emphasised the importance of collective action and partnerships to effectively implement the necessary policies for sustainable development in the country.

Imran Sabir, Director Technical Resources at the Sindh Environmental Protection Agency (SEPA), and Ghulam Murtaza Kalwar, Director Climate Change at the Balochistan Environmental Protection Agency (BEPA), addressed the challenges of environmental compliance in their respective provinces.

Ahmed Hassan, a data monitoring and evaluation expert from the UNDP SDGs Support Unit, discussed strategies for improving monitoring and reporting of national and provincial performance against the SDGs, while sharing a reporting tool developed by the UNDP.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 28^th, 2023.