Minister of State for Information, Broadcasting and National Heritage Marriyum Aurangzeb while speaking at the International Conference on the Role of Women Parliamentarians in Strengthening Democracy and Social Justice here on Tuesday asserted that the federal government was vigorously pursuing sustainable development goals (SDGs) as laid down in its vision 2025.
She said that the government had an unswerving commitment to promoting socio-economic development in the country. She pointed out that remarkable achievements had been made with regard to SDGs, particularly in the fields of health and education.
The minister said that the census which was being launched throughout the country from Wednesday would help collect authentic and credible data for evidence based policy making and legislation for the equitable distribution of resources across the country.
She implored the country to cooperate with the census staff and provide them with correct and authentic data. She reiterated that it was the constitutional and national duty of all citizens of Pakistan to provide correct information to the census staff as it was critical for resource distribution and future planning for the country.
The minister said that Pakistan was the first country in the world which had set up a full-fledged secretariat in the parliament in order to achieve development targets and its units were working in all provincial assemblies under the guidance of the speaker of the national assembly.
She said that the parliament, media and civil society were working in close coordination with each other to cope with the socio-economic challenges such as malnutrition and population management in the country.
Aurangzeb said that the government has signed agreements with UNICEF and Gavi International as well as other world bodies in order to have parliamentary oversight on challenges like malnutrition, routine immunisation, climate change, waste management, and the provision of clean drinking water, health, and education.
Referring to the role of media in achieving social development goals, the minister said that every television channel was bound to allocate 10 percent of its airtime to social sector issues.
Awareness, education, and outreach were also necessary to achieve these goals, she added.
