Prime Minister (PM) Shahid Khaqan Abbasi said on Wednesday that it was essential to promote cooperation between parliamentarians and locally elected governments to meet the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG).
He said this while addressing the concluding session of a conference, titled “Think Globally, Act Locally-SDG Implementation through Local Governments”.
The event was organised by the United Cities and Local Government Asia Pacific Region (UCLG) in collaboration with the Local Council Associations of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (ASPAC).
Addressing the participants, the prime minister said it was the need of the hour to create a balance between available resources and priorities of the parliamentarians and the local government representatives.
“The main goal and purpose of parliamentarians and local government representatives should be to work towards achieving the development targets,” he added.
He said the SDGs could only be achieved if elected public representatives were committed to delivering their duties to develop the health, education, sanitation and infrastructure sectors.
He also said that the local government system played the role of an incubator to nurture a new generation of politicians. He said that the purpose of governance systems was to promote development at the local level.
On the occasion, the heads of local governments pledged to fill the gaps between the nation’s key SDGs indicators by working in collaboration with the federal government.
It is pertinent to mention here that the conference is supported by German Development Cooperation (GDC) and United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).
At the end of the session, a joint statement was also issued, which read, “The path to a true people-centered, environment-friendly and participatory national life lies with the local governments. The SDGs are milestones on this journey to national progress.”
Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Sartaj Aziz said that the SDGs could only be achieved with the mutual cooperation between federal, provincial and local governments, as well as, the community organisations.
He also said that a parliamentary committee had been formed to implement the goals.
“The federal government is striving to achieve all the 17 SDGs, some of which would be implemented soon,” the deputy chairman said, while adding that approval to achieve national goals was acquired by the National Economic Council two months back.
