Commission for Social Development

Statement by Ambassador Farukh Amil, Deputy Permanent Representative of Pakistan to the United Nations at the 46th session of the Commission for Social Development February 7, 2008

Chairperson,

Under Secretary General for Economic and Social Affairs,

Excellencies and Distinguished Delegates,

We join the previous speakers to extend our delegation's warmest felicitations to you on your election as Chair of the 46th session of the Commission for Social Development. Our felicitations also go to other members of the Bureau for their well deserved election. We assure you of Pakistan delegation's full support during the deliberations of this session.

  1. Our delegation aligns itself with the statement delivered by the Permanent Representative of Antigua and Barbuda on behalf of Group of G77 and China.
  2. We hope our deliberations in this session will lead to a positive outcome with practical recommendations to realize the goals of full employment and decent work for all.

Distinguished Delegates

  1. Since the 1995 World Summit for Social Development, the United Nations has emphasized the role of productive employment in reducing poverty and promoting social development. It was reiterated in the 2005 World Summit which resolved to make the goal of full and productive employment and decent work for all…, "a central objective of national and international policies and development strategies".
  2. The report of the Secretary General (E/CN.5/2008/4) presents a grim picture on the realization of commitments to generate full and productive employment and decent work. Despite robust economic growth in recent years in most developing countries, employment creation has been lagging behind the growth of working-age population. The report suggests various reasons for job-less growth including changing labour markets' patterns with rapid globalization and expansion of informal economy resulting in de-industrialization.
  3. The report recommends promoting greater coherence between sectoral and macroeconomic policies and adopting integrated strategies for employment generation at the national, regional and local levels. However, this requires fair rules for trade and level playing field for developing countries with mostly agrarian economies. Availability of adequate and sustained financial resources, market access, reduction of tariff barriers and debt cancellation are crucial to enable developing countries to pursue active labour market policies. Besides, there are other challenges, including serious financial crises, insecurity, poverty, exclusion and inequality, within and among societies that need to be addressed before job-oriented macro-economic policies could yield the desired results.

Chairperson

  1. Pakistan attaches high priority to promoting employment opportunities through enhancing its economic growth, development and welfare of people. In the last few years, Pakistan's economy has undergone a qualitative transformation achieved through broad based structural reforms needed towards creation of decent work opportunities. These include: Economic governance, macro economic stability; Institutional reforms such as deregulation, liberalization and privatization; Creation of conditions that sufficiently motivate private sector and attract foreign investors; Building and strengthening of infrastructure; Enhancing technical and vocational competence of the work force, strengthening of the Small and Medium Enterprises and developing entrepreneurship; Gender mainstreaming and designing programmes targeting women and youth.
  2. The ongoing medium term development framework 2005-2010 (MTDF) stresses on just and sustainable economic system for reducing poverty and achieving millennium development goals (MDGs). Besides, the MTDF incorporates a paradigm shift towards enhancing competitiveness not only by means of higher investment but also through knowledge inputs to maximize total factor productivity.
  3. Government policies for employment generation have focused on three types of measures such as (a) direct and targeted measures, (b) accelerated investment and (c) improving technical and vocational competence of the labour force.
  4. Some specific measures taken in the context of above are as under:

    First, Pakistan Poverty Alleviation Fund has been set up with an endowment of $100 million, as a wholesale lender to NGOs engaged in providing micro-financing. This Fund is present in 104 districts across Pakistan with 68 partner organizations and has so far disbursed more than 17.5 billion rupees to around 6.18 million beneficiaries.

    Second, Realizing the importance of microfinance in improving the lives of poor people, the government established Khushhali Bank in 2000 which is a micro-finance institution under a public-private partnership programme. This Bank alone has so far disbursed 9.6 billion rupees to more than half a million household. Nearly 33 percent of its clients are women.

    Third, The spending in the Public Sector Development Programme for the 2007 has been increased by 59.9% which will lead to creation of a large number of new jobs.

    Fourth, Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) represent a significant component of Pakistan's economy in terms of value. Being labour intensive, they provide employment to the bulk of non-agricultural labour force. The Small and Medium Enterprise Development Authority established by the government is providing support to 3.2 million SMEs currently working in Pakistan with technical up gradation and human resource development.

    Fifth, As a specific targeted intervention to promote employment, Government of Pakistan has recently launched a National Internship Programme (NIP) to harness the energy and motivation of the educated youth with the dual objectives of improving the public sector performance and increasing the employability of educated youth. While 20,000 interns have been inducted in the first batch, the programme will benefit upto 50,000 graduates every year all over Pakistan. Besides, a specific employment scheme ( Rozgar Scheme) was launched in 2006 aiming at providing employment opportunities in the age group of 18-40 having secondary school certification.

    Sixth, The government is also managing the phenomena of international migration. As a labour exporting country, the focus is on (a) making efforts to export the increasing number of workers with proper skills, (b) protecting the rights of migrant workers, (iii) facilitating workers in sending remittances through legal channels and effective utilization of remittances.

    Seventh, In order to strengthen, standardize and streamline vocational and technical education, government has set up a National Vocational and Technical Education Commission. This body works as a regulatory authority for skills development and enhancing the productivity and competence of the workforce.

Chairperson

The various measures implemented by the government of Pakistan have started paying dividends and has led to a tangible improvement in the economic and social welfare of the people of Pakistan. We know that there are still challenges in achieving the ambitious goal of full employment and decent work for all. However, we remain committed to pursuing vigorous policies on this difficult path.

I thank you.