ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has made some progress in its commitment to the 2030 agenda for Sustainable Development Goals.
The country has been enlisted to the upcoming UN high-level political forum (HLPF) event where it will present the second voluntary national review report in July 2022.
Pakistan will cover all the five dimensions; social, economic, environmental, governance, and partnerships during the event.
The review report will be prepared after intensive consultation with the stakeholders that include federal ministries, provincial/regional P&DDs, provincial/regional line departments, provincial/regional SDGs units, private sector, academia, think tanks, media, international development partners, civil society organisations, international community, local governments and the parliamentarians.
In this regard, the SDGs section and the federal SDGs unit of the Ministry of Planning, Development and Special Initiatives has started consultative meetings on “Voluntary National Review (VNR-2022)”.
They held comprehensive deliberations with all the sections on the VNR and the template they are following.
The meeting was chaired by Dr Shabnam Sarfraz, member social sector of the Ministry of Planning, Development.
During the consultative meeting, the participants were briefed about VNR 2022 guidelines, timelines, data templates, the importance of VNR-2022, its formulation process, and the way forward.
SDGs Section chief M Ali Kemal emphasised the process of VNR and apprised the sections that the department is now able to report on 133 national SDGs indicators.
The SDGs status report is prepared by the federal government in coordination with all the provincial/regional units, ministries, and the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics.
The progress on SDGs and the noteworthy outcomes of saving lives and livelihood during the pandemic became the main reason to present VNR next year.
Following the timelines and checklists, a national-level consultation is being planned for December 2021 where all the stakeholders will be invited.
