The Minister of State for Finance and Revenue, Dr. Ayesha Ghaus Pasha, stated on Friday that human capital investments in gender, equality, population planning, education, nutrition, and water will benefit sustainable development.
She said this in a meeting with Resident Representative United Nations Development Program (UNDP), Knut Ostby, as detailed in a press release issued on Friday.
Ostby briefed Dr. Pasha on the ongoing UNDP portfolio and shared the findings of the report on leveraging private investment for Pakistan’s sustainable development. The report presents a strategic partnership model for raising global institutional impact investments worth $2 billion in the next three years in Pakistan.
He stated that overall, the country offers a private investment opportunity of $100 million in the clean and green environment, transport and logistics, technology and communication, health, and education sectors.
Dr. Pasha commended the UNDP’s key role as a development partner in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and reiterated the government’s commitment to achieving them. She emphasized that SDGs are the government’s commitment to the people to ensure their betterment and prosperity.
Dr. Pasha mentioned that the pandemic and the rising global commodity prices had shrunk the fiscal space for developing countries to allocate adequate resources for sustainable development and stressed the critical need for the private sector’s involvement in bridging the financing gap for sustainable development to achieve the SDGs.
She also appreciated the UNDP’s ongoing work on the SDGs Investment Map for Pakistan and urged for its speedy commencement. Furthermore, she affirmed the complete support of the Ministry of Finance for the proposed SDGs Project Development Facility to leverage private capital.