First National Parliamentary Conference on MDGs starting today
Islamabad, June 1: (PR) The first National Parliamentary Conference on Millennium Development Goals is being held from June 2 to 4 under the guidance of National Assembly Speaker Sardar Ayaz Sadiq. The Speaker of the National Assembly will inaugurate the first National Millennium Development Goals Conference. It is an initiative of a young woman Parliamentarian MNA Mariyum Aurangzeb, who is the chairperson for Task Force on Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).
The Conference will engage around 90 parliamentarians and legislators from the National Assembly, Senate, four provincial assemblies of Balochistan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Punjab and Sindh as well as legislative assemblies of Azad Jammu and Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan.
With its preliminary session scheduled to kick-off on Monday, the conference will bring together the national and provincial task forces on the MDGs. The National Task Force is made up of Members of Parliament, while the Provincial Task Forces comprise members of the respective Provincial Assemblies.
The conference will provide interaction among MPs and national and international experts, facilitators and speakers participating and sharing their valuable knowledge on various themes of Pakistan’s social development reforms agenda. The conference is the first step in what will be ongoing Parliamentary oversight of the government’s endeavours to achieve the MDGs. The conference will include briefings on the MDGs, the current status of the MDGs in Pakistan, presentations on provincial MDG reports prepared by UNDP, the Post-2015 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) strategy set to replace the existing MDGs, and brainstorming sessions on how to localise the SDGs. The MDG Task Forces will devise their Action Plans for 2014-15 alongside deliberations on the Post-2015 SDGs
These Federal and Provincial Task Forces on MDGs will aim at addressing the challenges and strengthen the legislative, oversight, and representation and play a pro-active role in accelerating the pace in achieving the agreed and committed targets for post 2015 development agenda.
Speakers of the conference include Baligh ur Rehman, Minister of State of Education, Ms Saira Afzal Tarrar, Minister of State for Health, MNA Dr Fehmida Mirza, Senator Mushahid Hussain Syed, MNA Dr Nafisa Shah, MNA Shiasta Pervez Malik, MNA Ms Azra Fazal Pechuho, MNA Ms Ayesha Raza Farooq, MNA Asad Umar, MNA Ms Marvi Memon and Ms Shahnaz Wazir Ali, former MNA. It will also have various knowledgeable speakers from various international agencies speaking on the relevant topics.-PR