KARACHI: Julien Harneis, the resident coordinator of the United Nations (UN) in Pakistan, and Catherine Weibel, country director of the UN information centre in Islamabad, held a press conference at the Karachi Press Club (KPC) on Monday to speak about the problems coming in the way of Pakistan’s meeting the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030.

“The target for meeting the SDGs is seven years from now, but development has not gone the way that we wanted it to, so we don’t see meeting the goals in the given time,” said the UN resident coordinator, adding that it is also the same in a number of other countries as well, owing to several reasons such as the Covid-19 pandemic, the Ukraine war, etc.

He said: “We are here to try and find out what we need to do to accelerate things so that we can reach the goals by 2030.”

He added that in the rural areas of the country, more than half of the population did not have access to education or health services.

“The media is absolutely central to the development of a country, and that is why we are going to press clubs to understand from journalists the challenges being faced by the people here. We are also meeting local leaders, local associations, and local organisations to get an idea and also take suggestions from them about what can be done to speed up matters in this regard,” he said.

“Development in any country is a complicated issue; the government alone cannot be expected to fix things, as there is a need for cohesive efforts to solve problems that come in the way of development. And for this purpose, we are visiting some 12 cities across Pakistan to meet people and understand the issues through their eyes. Only last week we were in Bahawalpur and Multan, and now we are in Karachi. Next, we are heading to Hyderabad, Sukkur, Rawalpindi, Mansehra, Faisalabad, Sialkot, Gilgit, etc.,” he added.

It was decided that in the case of Karachi, the UN Pakistan office and the KPC will enhance collaboration in information sharing, capacity building, and facilitate journalists reporting on social and development issues.

Earlier, KPC president Saeed Sarbazi and secretary Shoaib Ahmed warmly welcomed the UN delegation and provided them with an overview of the club’s history and activities.

Published in Dawn, August 29th, 2023