Prime Minister Imran Khan has said his government is committed to reducepoverty from 24.3 percent to 19 percent by 2023.
He was virtually speaking at the High-Level Side Event to the UN GeneralAssembly Session titled, “Poverty at Crossroad: Using Leadership and theMultidimensional Poverty Index to Build Back Better” today (Thursday).
The Prime Minister said his aim is to create an Islamic welfare state basedon the principles of Riasat-e-Madina through inclusive equitable growth andeconomic modernization.
He said around one billion people, almost 15 percent of the world’spopulation, are lacking the income and capabilities to live with dignity.He said poverty imposes massive human suffering and it is the mostpervasive violation of human rights.
He said poverty is also the root cause of socio-economic instability and ofmost political and security problems across the world. He said, that iswhy, poverty eradication is the first among UN’s Sustainable DevelopmentGoals.
The Prime Minister said his government is implementing a multisectoralpoverty alleviation programme in the name of Ehsaas, which is the largestpoverty eradication programme in Pakistan’s history.
Regarding adverse impacts of COVID-19 on the people, Imran Khan said onehundred million people are likely to be pushed back into extreme poverty.He said COVID virus does not discriminate, but it is the poor andvulnerable who have suffered the most from it. He said in Pakistan, we havebeen able to control the virus through our strategy of “smart lockdowns”.
Read Top Stories
He said despite our financial difficulties, we implemented a 1.25 billiondollars package to deliver emergency cash to over 15 million families,covering over a 100 million people.
Imran Khan said apart from the direct attack on poverty, we need to addressits systemic causes. He said at the national and international levels, thestructures of finance, production and trade must be made fair and equitable.
He said exploitation of the resources of the poor countries must stop,illicit flows of the fruits of corruption and crime must be halted and thestolen assets be returned to the countries of origin. He said developingcountries must be helped to recover from the COVID crisis, to realize theSDGs and to ward off the impacts of climate change.
The Prime Minister emphasized on mobilizing financial resources needed bythe developing countries through debt relief, creation of new SpecialDrawing Rights and expanded official development assistance.
He said the realization of SDGs can be accelerated, especially throughmajor investments in sustainable infrastructure, renewable energy,transport, housing, water and sanitation. He said new technologies must bemobilized and the digital divide bridged to enable developing countries toleapfrog into a modern development paradigm.
