Ahsan Iqbal Advocates Establishment Of "Global Sustainable Infrastructure Fund

Federal Minister for Planning Development & Special Initiatives Ahsan Iqbal Thursday said that through the international cooperation for investments in sustainable infrastructure, Pakistan and developing countries could "turbo charge" the achievement of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and Goals of the Paris Agreement and create a sustainable and dynamic world economy

ISLAMABAD, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 18th Aug, 2022 ) :Federal Minister for Planning Development & Special Initiatives Ahsan Iqbal Thursday said that through the international cooperation for investments in sustainable infrastructure, Pakistan and developing countries could "turbo charge" the achievement of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and Goals of the Paris Agreement and create a sustainable and dynamic world economy.

The Minister made these remarks while speaking at the first meeting of the Group of Friends of Sustainable Infrastructure Investment.

The main objective of this initiative and the Group of Friends sponsored by Pakistan and South Africa is to try to address the challenge at both ends: mobilizing finance or access to finance, both official and private; as well generating a sufficiently large portfolio of sustainable infrastructure projects in as many developing countries as possible.

The Minister said that in 2015, the international community adopted Agenda 2030 and the 17 Sustainable Goals. During the same year, the world's nations also adopted the Paris Agreements on climate change, he added.

Pakistan adopted the 2030 Agenda as our national development agenda through a unanimous resolution of the General Assembly and also incorporated the 17 SDGs into our Vision 2025 plan, the Minister remarked.

He further said that like many other developing countries, our development trajectory has been severely disrupted by multiple exogenous shocks like Covid-19 Pandemic, Climate Change, and geopolitical tensions.

These serial crises have pushed over a hundred million people into extreme poverty; 225 million full time jobs have been lost. "We have reversed two decades of development, he noted.

Professor Iqbal further added that as the UN Secretary General has stated, the nations of the world must build back- or rather forward- better.

The current crises have exposed the deficiencies of the present unsustainable growth models, the inequalities among and within nations, and the absence of a clear strategy to achieve the SDGs and the climate goals.

Yet, the current crises, and the growing recognition of the need for a better development model, also offers an opportunity to adopt and implement development strategies which synergistically advance both the SDGs, climate objectives and greater global equality, he added.