
IN NEW YORK: Ahsan Iqbal, the minister for planning, development, and special initiatives, urged the UN on Tuesday to “champion” the issue of the conflict between Ukraine and Russia to shield developing nations, including Pakistan, from the shocks of supply chain problems, which, he claimed, were impeding the advancement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
The minister stated that poor countries are in a dire economic situation because of high commodity prices on the global markets in his virtual address to an event titled “Mobilizing the Finance Industry for the Peer Code Reviews (VNRs) and the 2030 Agenda For sustainable development (SDGs)”.
According to him, high commodity prices have also put a financial strain on the business sector, limiting their capacity to fund SDG programmes.
In order for the corporate sector to help achieve the SDG goals, he also emphasised the necessity for an assistance package for developing nations.