UN official advises Pakistan to focus on regional trade

A senior United Nations official has advised Pakistan that instead of striving to trade with Europe and the West‚ the country should concentrate on trade within the region.

Country Director of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in Pakistan Marc-André Franche said trade with neighbours and sharing of experiences and innovations also help reduce the poverty.

The UNDP chief was of the view that one of the major factors of poverty in Pakistan was inequality in access to social services especially health and education.

He told Radio Pakistan in an interview that Pakistan is spending even less than Congo as percentage of GDP on education and is also spending less than India and Bangladesh.

He said other countries that fare well in UN Human Development Index achieved success by spending more on health and education‚ human resource development‚ effectiveness in governance‚ transparency and accountability.

He said Pakistan should divert resources from less productive sectors to increase funding for social sector. He hoped that the 18th Constitutional amendment‚ devolution of power and resources to provinces and holding of local bodies elections would bring efficiency to the overall system.

About the May 11 polls, he said the forthcoming elections provide a historic opportunity for the country to re-order its developmental priorities.

The UNDP Country Director said one of the immediate goals of the new government formed after the elections should be to evolve consensus on some of the key reforms and changes in budgetary allocations.

He said the UNDP along with its partners is supporting the Election Commission of Pakistan in organizing polls efficiently. He said some of the improvements in the system introduced by the Commission including voters’ education‚ training of polling and security staff and results management are very impressive.

He was confident that following introduction of several measures‚ the Commission would be able to avoid the possibility of any fraud in elections. He said the Commission is now independent and assertive that augurs well for strengthening of democracy in Pakistan.

He said the UNDP would also provide assistance to the Election Commission in organizing local elections next year.

To a question he said presence of foreign observers would enhance credibility of the electoral process.

Asked how he found Pakistan‚ the UNDP chief said he witnessed incredible amount of diversity of all kinds including religious and customs.

He said this is one of the greatest wealth of Pakistan but is not sufficiently appreciated.

Short URL: https://www.newspakistan.pk/?p=39732

Posted by Tahir Khan on Apr 6 2013. Filed under Business, Latest News, National, Pakistan. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.