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Mr. Chairman
Allow me to extend, on behalf of Pakistan delegation, our warmest felicitations to you and other members of the Bureau of the Third Committee, on your election.
My delegation aligns itself with the statement made by the representative of South Africa on behalf of G77 & China.
Mr. Chairman
The Copenhagen Declaration on Social Development recognized poverty eradication as “ an ethical, social, political and economic imperative of human kind”. The Millennium Declaration emphasized the need to ‘ free our fellow men, women and children from the abject and dehumanizing conditions of extreme poverty’ and World Summit Outcome 2005 stressed the “ the right of people to live in freedom and dignity, free from poverty and despair”.
Despite the multitude of commitments made at United Nations conferences and summits, positive changes in lives of poor, disenfranchised and marginalized people, as noted by the Secretary-General, are taking place too slowly. Many parts of the world are still significantly off track in reaching the internationally agreed development goals. Whatever progress has been achieved so far remains vulnerable to increased social, economic and income inequalities, which in turn demands a stronger international cooperation and commitment to tackle the multifaceted phenomena of poverty.
During the current Session, we will review progress of the first UN Decade for Eradication of Poverty. In this process attention should be focused on the following areas identified at the Copenhagen Summit and other international conferences and summits:
(i) Achievement of uniform progress on all three fronts identified in Copenhagen Summit, namely, poverty eradication, employment generation and social integration.
(ii) Adopting an inclusive approach while addressing the root causes of poverty, eliminating vulnerability of marginalized segments of populations, ensuring their access to productive resources, micro finance, education and training and their political and economic empowerment.
(iii) Elimination of asymmetries of globalization and its uneven costs and benefits in accordance with the recommendations of the World Commission on the Social Dimension of Globalization.
(iv) Creation of new financial resources through increased ODA, debt cancellation and increasing equity in trade, especially in agriculture and textile.
(v) Prioritizing actions to remove global insecurity by resolution of ongoing armed conflicts.
(vi) Utilizing the opportunities created through migration for social development and achievement of MDGs.
Mr. Chairman
The Copenhagen Summit called for a people centered approach to development. The Government of Pakistan is placing high priority on social development to make Pakistan a dynamic and progressive society.
Over the past seven years, Pakistan has undergone a qualitative transformation achieved through broad based multi-sectoral structural reforms. The focus of these reforms is on: promoting growth policies assisting the poor, creating opportunities for employment, improving governance, ensuring that fruits of devolution reach the grass roots, and protecting vulnerable segments of the society.
The multi- pronged strategy has paid dividends. Implementation of the macroeconomic reform agenda in Pakistan has yielded unprecedented GDP growth, which has remained in the vicinity of 7% in the last four years. The size of our national economy as well as per capita income has more than doubled in the last seven years while our external debt liability has come down substantially.
The economic upsurge and high growth trajectory maintained over past several years has helped to bring down poverty from 34.5% in 2001 to 23.8% in 2006.
The Poverty Reduction Strategy of Pakistan has generated jobs. Since 2003-2004 and until the first of half of 2005-2006, 5.82 million new jobs were created which helped in reducing the unemployment rate from 8.3% in 2001 to 6.5 % at the end of 2005. The rising pace of job creation is bound to increase the income levels of the people further.
When seen in the backdrop of the rising energy prices and the massive destruction caused by October 2005 earthquake in Pakistan, the economic achievements of Pakistan are reflective of the strength and dynamism of our economy and the resilience of our people.
However, we are aware that economic growth alone cannot fulfill all the needs of the poor. It is essential to distribute the fruits of government’s anti-poverty programmes to the vulnerable segments of society. The prominent steps taken by the Government in this regard include distribution of State land to landless tenants, availability of credit at easy terms, relief to drought affected areas and specific livelihood grants and reconstruction subsidies in the earthquake affected areas of Pakistan. The Small and Medium Enterprises have been a special focus of the government’s targeted interventions, given their potential to contribute to employment generation.
These efforts are being complimented by comprehensive reforms and measures in the related sectors and state institutions, such as devolution of power, police and judicial reforms, tax reforms, civil service reforms, political reforms and gender mainstreaming.
The significant devolution of power to the local level has brought about a radical transformation in the political and administrative landscape of the country. It has led to the active local participation in the decision making on issues that relate to welfare and progress of communities particularly in education, health and access to justice.
The President’s Education Sector Reforms programme have also been launched throughout the country focusing on the agenda of Education for All (EFA), particularly for promotion of female literacy. In this regard some 43,000 literacy centers have been established out of these 80% are for females.
Mr. Chairman
Development is the highest priority for the vast majority of member states. Although national efforts to alleviate poverty and generate employment are absolutely critical, the external environment in which States operate also needs to be favourable to support their efforts.
We all know that the existing rules in international trade and finance weighed against the developing countries. The huge subsidies provided by the rich countries to their agriculture and restrictions on market access to the developing countries are visible examples of this inequity.
To address these distortions, we need to build upon the recommendations of the World Summit 2005 on ODA targets, debt relief, enhancing and improving aid and advance on trade, investment flows and global governance.
Implementation of development commitments should remain the top priority in the follow up agenda of the World Summit 2005. The developing countries’ national strategies require that development partners actively support programmes in the developing countries for poverty reduction, employment generation and social integration.
Together we can reduce the oceans of poverty, hunger and disease and build a world community of human beings free from hunger, disease and unemployment. This is the vision that should continue to inspire the United Nations and its member States.
I thank you Mr. Chairman.
Please check against delivery
by
Mr. Farukh Amil
Deputy Permanent Representative
of Pakistan to the United Nations
in the Third Committee
of the 61st Session of the UN General Assembly
on agenda item 59: Social Development
New York
October 02, 2006