LAHORE: Federal Minister for Planning and Development Ahsan Iqbal has emphasized the need for political stability and continuity of policies for the long-term progress of the country.

The minister said this while addressing the inaugural session of “First Public Policy Conference 2022” here at National School of Public Policy on Monday.

Ahsan maintained that Pakistan has all the resources and capabilities to become one of the top economies but policy shocks and political instability has always severely damaged country’s progress.

He also stressed the need of finding innovative ways for wealth creation, justified distribution of wealth and making Pakistan a globally competitive economy.

He said the nation needs to promote three elements - education, enterprise and exports. He added the country had faced huge losses due to the recent floods and torrential rains across the country, but Pakistan’s economy was able to come out of the crisis. In the two-day conference, researchers will present research papers in the conference on social policy financing.

Rector of National School of Public Policy Dr Ijaz Munir said that the conference will present its recommendations in the formulation of government social policy.

He said the purpose of the conference is to provide suggestions on reducing the wastage of resources after a critical review of government initiatives and to help policy makers in increasing the efficiency of public sector expenditure. Dr Ijaz said that discussion on effective social security and financial assistance mechanism for children, disabled persons and old persons are the subject of the conference.

He said that the effectiveness of the state-funded Sehat Sahulat Insurance Programme will also be evaluated, while the aim of the conference is to develop a local social policy index for Pakistan in the light of international experiences.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2022