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Mr. Chairman,
I congratulate you and the distinguished members of your team on election to the Bureau of the Third Committee for the 70th Session.
My delegation appreciates your initiative and the efforts to streamline the working methods of the Committee. Thanks to your leadership and the hard work of your team, our Committee this year starts its work under a set of improved and simplified working methods.
I assure you of our full cooperation in the smooth discharge of your responsibilities.
With regard to the agenda item under discussion, my delegation associates itself with the statement delivered by South Africa on behalf of G-77 and China.
Mr. Chairman,
With the adoption of the Post 2015 Development Agenda last month, the concept and status of social development has entered a qualitative new stage. Unlike the Millennium Development Goals, the Post 2015 Development Agenda explicitly recognizes social development as one of the three core pillars of sustainable development. The SDGs have the declared aim of “leaving no one behind” and “making no discrimination on the basis of age, sex, disability, caste, ethnicity, religion or belief. In addition, special measures have been included for the protection of marginalized and backward segments of the society. This indeed is a significant progress from the MDGs, which is reflective of the emerging facts on the global developmental landscape.
Mr. Chairman,
Goal 10 of the SDGs is of particular significance as it exclusively addresses the issue of reducing inequalities within and among the countries. Under this goal, the international community has set itself the target of achieving, by 2030, growth in the income of the bottom 40 per cent of the population at a rate higher than the national averages. A commitment has been made to empower and promote the social, economic and political inclusion of all groups and individuals, irrespective of any consideration. Member states have further committed to ensuring equal opportunity of outcome, and to eliminating discriminatory laws, policies and practices.
At the international level, member states have undertaken to improve the regulation and monitoring of global fin¬ancial markets and to enhance the representation and voice of the developing countries in the international economic and ¬financial institutions.
The target on ensuring safe and regular migration and mobility of people assumes great significance in the context of the unprecedented refugee crisis of our times.
It is our hope that full implementation of Goal 10 and other relevant targets in the SDGs would accelerate progress towards full achievement of the objectives outlined in the Copenhagen World Conference on Social development.
Mr. Chairman,
Pakistan remains committed to the objectives of the Copenhagen Summit to eradicate poverty, promote full employment and strengthen social integration. We are also mindful of the special needs of the youth, the disabled and elderly citizens and other vulnerable groups of the society..
Addressing the Post 2015 Agenda Summit, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif underlined that achieving the objectives of social development necessitates synergies among key development priorities, including employment generation, energy security, demographic challenge, disaster risk-reduction, and good governance. It entails expanding access to energy and infrastructure and making it available to a larger proportion of the population.
For Pakistan, the goals and objectives of social development complement our own developmental needs and priorities, which have been articulated in Government’s ‘Vision 2025’. Pakistan remains fully committed to the realization of these goals which would be vigorously pursued within the context of the Post 2015 Development Agenda.
I thank you.