Govt taking appropriate measures for sustainable development: Salman
By Asad Cheema

ISLAMABAD—Advisor to Prime Minister on Finance, Revenue and Economic Affairs Dr. Salman Shah said Wednesday the government is fully cognizant of the socio-economic problems of the people and taking appropriate measures for the sustainable development of the country.
Speaking at inaugural session of the Eight Sustainable Development Conference organized by Sustainable Development Policy Institute (SDPI) here the Advisor said Pakistan is moving on fast track of development and has managed to attain second top position among the Asian developing countries during last year.
He said the country has achieved significant progress in economic and social sector, adding, this course of progress will create vital impact in the betterment of the people. "Poverty Reduction is the main issue and government is working on Millennium Development Programme for bringing about betterment in the lifestyle of the people", he added.
He said the country is facing big challenges on many fronts including water, energy and maintaining of sustained growth rate.
Dr. Salman Shah said the different value chains in the country have to be upgraded to achieve an desired pace of progress.
He said "we have to acquire better technology, infrastructure to accelerate the pace of development and economic growth".
We have asked the private power producers to generate more production to meet the growing need of energy in the country", he added. He said that North South linkage will enhance linkage of Karachi with other parts of the country, he said. Advisor to Prime Minister said "We are putting lot of efforts for promotion of higher education in order to improve standard of education at the Universities level". We are focusing on establishing of education chain from primary level to higher level". He said "we are also looking to improve lifestyle of the people particularly of the rural areas".
He said the government is also focussing on improvement of other areas of development including service and gender sector. The appointment of female governor of State Bank for the first time in the history of the country reflects "our commitment towards improving the status of women in the society". Advisor to the Prime Minister on Finance Dr.Salman Shah that Pakistan is in the midst of a impressive economic performance in decades.
Our economic achievement since the turn of the century has been acknowledged globally", he remarked. He said "Yet, at the same time we have recently experienced the worst natural disaster in the country's living history, an event that has proved to be a somber reminder of the task that still remains unfulfilled as far as our goal of eradicating poverty is concerned". Dr.Salman said the earthquake end the devastation it left behind as its legacy has underscored not only the importance of uniform development, but also the necessity of inducing sustainability into the development framework. The concept of sustainable development interestingly is one, which is often wrongly perceived as being of secondary importance for the Government of Pakistan.
He assured that Government remains cognizant of the importance of ensuring that our country's development is sustainable - sustainable in every meaning of the term. The necessity of treating development and sustainability as complementary components of every government package continues to be at the forefront of our policy formulations, he remarked.
We have clearly highlighted the importance of sustainable development in all major policy documents, which provide direction to the Government", he Specifically, he said with regards to the environment which is of course an integral part of sustainable development.
We understand that it means more than simplyissuing directives to protect our natural habitat", he remarked.
Environment, he said "in fact constitutes a life support function' without which whose sound health, nighter we nor the generations to come can prosper".
The link between the environmental protection and poverty alleviation, he said is an undeniable and though not always well understood, remains an active ingredient of government's policy designs. The Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper and the current Medium Term Development Framework both highlight the importance of the environment and its link with livelihoods of citizens, the vulnerability of the poor and its impact on human health, he remarked.
He highlighted some of the Government's achievements in the economic and social sectors, both of which go a long way in ensuring sustainability of development. Advisor to Prime Minister on Finance Dr.Salman Shah said that Government since early 2000 has been pursuing a development strategy of GDP growth of over 7% by pushing agriculture, information technology and small and medium enterprises (SMEs) for their potential to quickly revive growth and generate employment opportunities with relatively low investment.
The Oil and Gas sector is also accorded priority essentially to reduce vulnerability to energy imports and conserve foreign exchange. At the strategic level, he said the government has taken a number of measures to accelerate growth in productive sectors of the economy.