Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif outlined his expectations for the upcoming United Nations summit, emphasizing the need for effective international cooperation to tackle global challenges, including the growing debt burden of developing countries.
On Thursday, the Prime Minister of Pakistan participated in a virtual meeting with 48 global leaders.This significant meeting formulated strategies for the upcoming UN summit in New York, USA, later this month. Various world leaders and UN Secretary-General António Guterres also addressed the session.
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif presented a plan to the global leaders to achieve sustainable development goals for economically weaker countries and to address global challenges.
In his address, he mentioned that new global challenges and increasing tensions risk dividing the world. He stressed that equality and justice are essential to unite the world.The Prime Minister rightly presented the case for developing and underdeveloped countries.
He accurately highlighted the concern that due to the ongoing tensions and confrontations between countries and nations, the world could be divided into different blocs. Hence, a system of equality and justice is vital to unify nations.
The concerns raised by the Prime Minister are legitimate, as the economic strategies of powerful and developed nations make it extremely difficult for developing and underdeveloped countries to achieve economic progress.
Developed and powerful nations do not hesitate to act aggressively toward weaker nations for their geo-economic and geopolitical interests. Additionally, they support various groups to promote conflict in poor and weak countries, without disturbing their economic lifelines.
This is why civil wars, political tensions, and extremism are on the rise in the world’s poorer nations. Almost all countries in Africa are plagued by these issues.As a result, Africa is the most backward and impoverished continent.
No African country ranks among the top ten high-income countries globally. Except for South Africa, no other African country has a per capita income above middle-income levels. Apart from Morocco and Algeria in North Africa, most other countries rank below middle-income status.
Mauritania, a resource-rich nation, is among Africa’s most backward countries. Countries like Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, and many Central African nations are torn apart by civil war and terrorism, placing them among the world’s poorest countries.In Asia, the situation is not much different from Africa.
However, Eastern Asian nations are significantly more developed. These include high-income countries like China, Japan, North Korea, and Taiwan. Additionally, in the Middle East, countries such as Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Qatar, Kuwait, and Oman are considered prosperous in terms of per capita income.
However, in terms of scientific and technological development, these countries do not match the level of the USA, Western Europe, Japan, China, and South Korea.Asia is the largest continent. Despite its size, only a handful of countries here experience prosperity and scientific advancement compared to Europe.
Asia also includes war-torn nations such as Afghanistan, Yemen, Iraq, and Syria, as well as countries like Iran, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Myanmar, Nepal, and India, where per capita income is very low. Pakistan’s economic crisis is no secret.The reasons for this crisis are internal rather than external.
The internal power struggles among Pakistan’s influential lobbies have plunged the country’s economy into turmoil and created deep divisions within society. These powerful forces have also fueled extremism within Pakistan.
Today, Pakistan faces problems due to these internal conflicts. Otherwise, Pakistan is the seventh nuclear power globally and boasts one of the world’s best armies. Pakistan has significantly more industrial infrastructure than in the past.The road network has also expanded and improved. Pakistan has excellent scientists, economists, experts in scientific fields, and brilliant business minds. The country also has a vast labor force.
Despite all this, Pakistan remains economically weak, and the reasons for this are not external. Neither the IMF nor other financial institutions are responsible. The blame lies entirely with Pakistan’s powerful elite, which has failed to harmonize its interests.This failure has fueled separatist movements, empowered terrorist organizations, and strengthened underground criminal groups. These criminal elements have infiltrated Pakistan’s system.
As a result, the entire system in Pakistan is deteriorating. The parliament, executive, judiciary, and other crucial institutions are overstepping their bounds due to legal ambiguities and overlapping roles.
The roots of Pakistan’s economic, political, and social crises and divisions must be traced back to the system itself.Closing the loopholes in the system is the job of the parliament. If the parliament performs its primary duty of legislation, all these loopholes can be sealed.
Non-ambiguous, straightforward legislation is essential to keep constitutional institutions and public administration confined to their duties. It is also the constitutional responsibility of the parliament and parliamentarians to review and correct government department regulations and rules. If Pakistan’s parliamentarians understand their responsibilities and duties, making the system foolproof and pro-people would not be a difficult task.
The lack of interest by the parliament in its responsibilities allows salaried employees running the system to establish their own dictatorship. Addressing these issues is an urgent necessity.However, during a steering committee meeting of SMEDA chaired by the Prime Minister yesterday, he directed to enhance the capabilities of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and emphasized the importance of increasing SME exports for the national economy. He stated that large private businesses have a responsibility to work with SMEs.
The Prime Minister called for the immediate activation of SMEDA’s board. He also issued directives to adopt all precautionary measures against monkeypox and raise public awareness about it. He stressed the need for screening at airports, seaports, and land borders, and for establishing quarantine centers for affected individuals.In a meeting with young parliamentarians from the Pakistan Muslim League (N), the Prime Minister mentioned that policy rates and inflation had decreased significantly, and record increases had been seen in agricultural exports, IT exports, and remittances.
He stated that empowering the youth is crucial to overcoming national challenges and setting the country on a path of development and prosperity. He also noted that Pakistan is on the agenda for the upcoming IMF meeting on September 25.Pakistan has no shortage of government institutions. When it comes to small businesses, there are institutions in place at the provincial level. If the Punjab government and other provinces focus on their provincial institutions, the potential within small businesses can be harnessed.
Similarly, there is no need for provincial anti-corruption departments when FIA already exists. By establishing provincial wings of FIA, the absence of provincial anti-corruption departments can be addressed. Several institutions exist on paper but are ineffective in practice.