Actionable research to bridge research-policy-practice gap for sustainable and democratic future

Actionable research to bridge research-policy-practice gap for sustainable and democratic future

ISLAMABAD: (December 15, 2011) There is a dire need of collaboration among academicians and researchers in order to determine actionable and creative research agenda to save this country and ensure its sustainable development,
said Dr Nadeem Ul Haque, Deputy Chairman Planning Commission of Pakistan while speaking at the concluding day of 14^th Sustainable Development Conference (SDC) ‘Re-defining Paradigms of Sustainable Development in South Asia’ organized by Sustainable
Development Policy Institute (SDPI) here on Thursday.

He also launched SDPI’s web television, Sustainable Development Television (SDTV) which is first of its kind initiative in Pakistan and meant to focus the issues and aspects of sustainable development in Pakistan with a people-centered
approach. Urdu publication Dharti and life-time achievement awards to SDPI long-serving members Ahmad Saleem, Dr Mahmood A. Khwaja and Brig (r) Mohammad Yasin were conferred upon. 

Shahid Kardar, former Governor State Bank of Pakistan said sustainability is being affected by the macroeconomic imbalance having acquired structural characteristics due to problems of both revenue and expenditure sides. He said
fiscal deficit, more than 6 percent budget deficit, inflation and continued pressure on rupee cannot be addressed unless structural reforms are undertaken. Dr Abid Suleri of SDPI gave vote of thanks to national and international scholars and hoped findings
of this conference will help the stakeholders in finding the solutions of compounding crisis of governance, human security and peace and social justice. 

In the session on ‘Governance challenges’ the panelists were largely of the view
governance is a broader concept than the outdated idea of merely a “Government”, and is achieved through fostering interaction between the three pillars of societal structures namely state, civil society, and private sector or market. They said the
role of civil society to observe government actions and induce positive developmental actions is a very critical aspect of the overall development process. Daniyal Aziz, Governance Institutes Network International, Kaiser Bengali, Member National Finance Commission,
Dr. G. Shabbir Cheema of East-West Center, USA, Dr. Urs Geiser, University of Zurich, Switzerland, Tulasi Sharan Sigdel, Nepal Administrative Staff College, Jawalakhel, Nepal and Janaka Hemathilaka, Practical Action, Sri Lanka maintained spoke at the occasion.

In the session on “costs of economic non-cooperation to consumers in South Asia’ Bipul Chatterjee of CUTS International India shared glimpses from a research study conduced in collaboration with SDPI. He said both Pakistani and
Indian consumers would gain hugely from cross border trade liberalization. Shafqat Munir of SDPI highlighted a wide disconnect between traded policy formulation and consumers resulting into imbalances in favor of business interests.

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Posted by Fayyaz Yaseen on Dec 15 2011. Filed under Latest News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry