Marriyum reaffirms commitment to achieve SDGs, make Pakistan a peaceful, developed state

ISLAMABAD, Dec 21 (APP): Minister of State for Information, Broadcasting and National Heritage Marriyum Aurangzeb on Wednesday reaffirmed her commitment to achieve targets set out for the Sustainable Development Goals in coordination and cooperation of all the stakeholders and make Pakistan a peaceful and developed state.
She was addressing as a chief guest at the opening session of national roundtable conference on Mainstreaming Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs): Making youth part of policy making” jointly organised by Plan International and Ministry of Planning, Development and Reform.
The conference was organised to commemorate the significant evolvement of SDGs in Pakistan and to discuss the prospects of youth engagement in policy making for sustainable social sector outcomes.
Marriyum Aurangzeb said that Pakistan was the only country in the world which made considerable development as far as progress on SDGs was concerned.
She informed that in 2013, Pakistan became the first country to have a full-fledged parliamentary secretariat and a task force both at federal and provinces legislatures.
She said that Prime Minister’s announcement for holding census next year was indeed a landmark decision and during the past 22 years we were unable to acquire accurate data.
The minister of state said that Pakistanis were a resilient nation and had never been deterred by cowardly acts of terrorism, adding children continued going to schools, business activities did not stop despite terrorist attacks. “It is manifestation of our unwavering resolve against the menace of terrorism and extremism.”
Marriyum Aurangzeb also stressed the need for close liaison and coordination between the Federal, Provincial Governments and all stakeholders to attain human development goals.
She said in the Vision 2025, the targets of SDGs in different fields have been set under international framework and the relevant ministries and departments have been apprised about their tasks in this connection.
She said the prime minister has already announced holding of national population census in March next year, which was a landmark decision and help in better planning for future development.
Marriyum Aurangzeb informed that programmes are being introduced to reverse trend of stunted growth among children.
She said the people would witness reduction in this trend in the next five to ten years which would be a big achievement.
She said that at the federal level efforts had been made for improvement of health of mother and child.
The Minister of State said that the topic of SDGs has been made part of syllabus in the schools of Islamabad in order to create greater awareness about them.
She said the prime minister was personally monitoring the implementation on the sustainable development goals.
Marriyum Aurangzeb said that the Punjab government’s education books are digitally available on online and for teachers tutorial lectures are available. She said that Punjab Information Technology Board under the guidance of Chief Minister Shehbaz Sharif accomplished this achievement and now Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Sindh were replicating the same.
She said that the issue of human development should remain above politics and all stakeholders should make their valuable contributions in it.