Only eight countries attend seminar on SDGs

ISLAMABAD: The third regional seminar for the parliaments of the Asia-Pacific region on Achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), held here at the National Assembly Hall, on Tuesday failed in attracting member countries for attendance since eight countries out of 42 participated in it.

The seminar was jointly organized by the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) and the National Assembly of Pakistan. Highly-placed sources told The News that the Foreign Office couldn’t pursue the majority of the member countries to attend it while India also played a negative role in keeping the members away. It itself was also absent. The Foreign Office didn’t respond to a query on this count. Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif had to open it, but he didn’t turn up. The participation of members of the host parliament was also very poor since federal ministers and state ministers including the minister for Foreign Affairs also didn’t attend the inaugural session. They were stated to be busy with a cabinet meeting.

National Assembly Speaker Raja Pervez Ashraf urged parliamentarians from Asia-Pacific to support the flood-ravaged Pakistan in his inaugural address. Romina Khurshid Alam, convener, National Parliamentary Task Force on SDGs, while moderating the session, said the two-day seminar was being held in a bid to sensitize the international community, particularly the member countries of the IPU, about the climate-induced catastrophe in Pakistan. The climate breakdown in the form of record torrential rains and super floods across the country directly affected almost one-third population. The extent of damage was unimaginable as thousands had lost their lives and infrastructure, industry and agriculture were adversely hit. She stressed that Pakistan needed massive support from the international community to fight global climate change and fulfill its commitments pertaining to SDGs.

Duarte Pacheco, president, IPU, lauded the efforts extended to millions of distressed people in the wake of massive torrential rains and super floods. He said the event would hopefully prove pivotal in attracting support for flood victims.

Raja Pervaiz Ashraf reminded that the country had suffered losses in excess of 30 billion dollars. It was almost impossible to undo the colossal damage alone. He said the international community had to step forward to help Pakistan in hour of grief. He emphasized that Pakistan was not a contributor to carbon emissions, but it was among the most affected countries. He underscored that climate change was a global problem and required a global solution. The recent calamity after Covid-19 had badly hampered Pakistan’s ability to attain SDGs. “Therefore, we need to enhance regional collaboration and develop close liaison to address all impediments to the achievement of promised goals.”

Earlier, Senate Chairman Sadiq Sanjrani proposed that the IPU include Pakistan’s recent flood crisis as an emergency agenda item in the upcoming plenary session of the IPU scheduled to be held in Kigali, Rwanda, in October. Sanjrani has written to the IPU president, saying that Pakistan greatly values the IPU role as a conduit of multilateral parliamentary interactions and therefore, it is high time to come forward and help Pakistan with relief assistance. During a recent interaction with the IPU president, he emphasized that the IPU being the largest organization should play its role. He also proposed constitution of a working group on climate change to take all member states on board. The IPU president had agreed to the proposal and promised to include Pakistan’s recent situation as an emergency item in the Kigali meeting.