Dr. Salman Shah, Advisor to Prime Minister on Finance, began his inaugural speech as the chief guest at the Eighth Sustainable Development by congratulating SDPI on bringing together renowned international experts at the conference which would ensure a rich discourse on the different aspects of sustainable development. Dr. Salman Shah reiterated the Government of Pakistan's recognition of the importance of sustainable development in all its major policy documents.
He asserted, “The government remains cognizant of the importance of ensuring that our country's development is sustainable in every meaning of the term. The necessity of treating development and sustainability as complementary components of every government package continues to be at the forefront of our policy formulations.” He emphasized that environmental concerns should be considered an integral part of sustainable development, and should translate into more than simplistic government directives for natural habitat protection. He reaffirmed that the linkages between environmental protection and poverty alleviation cannot be denied and remain an integral component of the government's policy programs. He discussed how both the Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper and the current Medium Term Development Framework have highlighted the linkages between livelihoods, vulnerability, environmental standards, and health. He emphasized that the government was working towards making gender equality a reality in Pakistan by giving incentives to women in every sector and guaranteeing equal employment opportunities, citing as example the appointment of the country's first women State Bank Governor of Pakistan.
SDPI's Executive Director Dr. Saba Gul Khattak welcomed the conference delegates and guests. She shared how the Institute had followed a decentralized approach towards the conference this year by focusing on six themes instead of an overarching central one. “The conference,” she said “is an attempt to discuss gender issues in several contexts. There is also an attempt to make sense of the international system, of the opportunities and challenges presented by WTO, of the interlinkages between poverty, child labor, livelihoods, security as well as people's rights and issues of peace at the national, regional and international levels.” She raised a number of questions, e.g., can there be any way that less prosperous countries can assure their citizens' economic and social security? What could be done for women facing shrinking opportunities and choices amidst increasing conflict? Is there a ‘good globalization' from below and a ‘bad globalization' at the upper levels—and could resistance, from below, be termed as good globalization? Could ethical issues be included as integral to policy decisions at the WTO or must we submit ourselves to the Machiavellian interpretation of national interests?
Mr. Shamsul Mulk, the Chairman of SDPI's Board of Governors, gave an overview of SDPI's accomplishments and an appraisal of the conference series. He formally launched Troubled Times: Sustainable Development and Governance in the Age of Extremes, an anthology based on the proceedings of the 2004 Sustainable Development Conference. Copies of the anthology were presented to Dr. Salman Shah, and Mr. Wajahat Aziz, the representative for DFID. Mr. Shamsul Mulk in his speech also thanked the Department for International Development (DFID), Delegation of the European Commission to Pakistan (EU), Heinrich Boll Foundation (HBF), Action Aid Pakistan (AAPk), Friedrich Ebert Stiftung (FES), the Gender Equality Project (GEP) managed by the British Council and funded by the DFID, South Asia Watch on Trade and Environment (SAWTEE) and UN Trade Initiatives from Human Development Perspective (TIHP) for funding the conference.Mr. Wajahat Aziz, Program Officer for DFID, acknowledged SDPI's outstanding record of academic and scientific leadership in sustainable development. The anthology, he said, was proof of SDPI's concern for translating specialized multi and interdisciplinary research into effective policy measures.
The conference delegates agreed that the SDPI annual conference series has become an important feature of the South Asian research community as it brings together different groups involved in the development debate, ranging from policy makers, activists and scholars to journalists, students, filmmakers and elected representatives from the national, provincial and local governments, in addition to scholars from across the globe.
Reported by Sarah Siddiq
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