This he stated while addressing the concluding ceremony of the 21st Sustainable Development Conference, organised by Sustainable Development Policy Institute, here.
"Both India and Pakistan have the trade potential of $37 billion, which could be proved a powerful engine of the shared prosperity and to reduce inequalities in the region," said Dr Hussain.
Talking about bilateral relations between India and Pakistan, Dr Hussain suggested improving barter system between the two countries to better the status of producers and consumers.
"We need to invest in science and technology to tap the potential of 4th Industrial Revolution, otherwise, we will lag behind. The challenge for us today is to invest in labour productivity in services and agriculture sector. For that we have to invest in human development," said Dr Ishrat, adding that inequalities, such as gender, income, and social, coupled with poverty are hindering development and growth of the regional countries. He stressed the need for improving the quality of education in Pakistan so as to create job opportunities.
Former Interior Minister Ahsan Iqbal said, "We are passing through the age of digital revolution where artificial intelligence is reshaping the future of this world. At the moment, when inequality is growing at an alarming level, we have to ensure that every single person of the society has the access to information and communication technology to fight inequalities." He said, "In this changing world of ICT, we should not be myopic but to adapt to the changes."
He said that China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) will impact the lives of most vulnerable people and under CPEC, through Higher Education Commission (HEC) a knowledge corridor was started by partnering with 50 Chinese universities on the programmes which are relevant to Pakistan's economic needs. "To further harness the potential of regional connectivity, we need stronger connections on trade, culture and technologies among regional countries," he said.
PPP leader Senator Sherry Rehman said, "Peace should be our objective while moving towards regional cooperation and connectivity, which would help Pakistan and other countries of the region to grow and develop." India and Pakistan have no option but to talk on all unresolved issues including Kashmir, she said, adding that there is consensus among all the political parties in Pakistan to have peace talks with India.
"We have history of starting and stopping the talks, and walkout from the peace talks would not help any country. Visa free corridors like Kartarpur Corridor can help bring peace in the region despite political differences. We must look at the peace to harness the potential of regional cooperation." She said the knowledge across the borders should not retain within the governments whereas it must reach out to the people of the region. Development can only be sustainable when it responds to the local and vulnerable of the society, she maintained.
Earlier, speaking at a session titled 'Fiscal Decentralisation: Gaps and Challenges,' former Finance Minister Dr Hafiz A Pasha stressed the need for showing political maturity. He added that federal front needs to have high degree of rationalisation for fiscal decentralisation.
Dr Kaiser Bengali, Chairman of Sindh Education Foundation (SEF), discussing the NFC Award, 18th Constitutional Amendment and the imbalance between federal and provincial governments said that federal government was the loser of the 7th NFC Award. He said the richest people, 10% of the population, pay 10% of income tax while the poorest people, 10% of the population, pay 16% of income tax.
Prof Dr Jan Werner from Cologne Business School, Germany, said there are two ways of centralisation, ie, horizontal and vertical and Germany is adopting these ways in tackling problems related to the implementation of fiscal policies. He said that Pakistan should not do too much and start new initiatives as it doesn't have many incentives.
Speaking at another concurrent penal titled 'Oil based energy generation plants to shut off after this year,' Nadeem Babar, the Chairperson of PM's Task Force on Energy Reforms, highlighted problems regarding energy generation in Pakistan. "Starting with what we have to achieve in future with a focus on what we have to overcome from past, Pakistan is facing huge energy leakages due to various reasons," he said, adding that the government is carrying out a massive crackdown on theft and non-recovery. He further said, "We expect consumers to pay for what they use but it is not the case. In long-term, the government is looking for the availability, affordability and sustainability of energy."
Dr Tariq Banuri, Chairman Higher Education Commission, stressed the need for introducing rural support programme approach in education system to bridge the gap between academic research and field communities.
Speaking at a concurrent session titled 'Role of Private Sector in Climate Action,' former federal minister Nisar A Memon discussed the harmful human impacts on climate. He focused on bringing awareness in the society which, he said, would lead to better socioeconomic conditions of the country.
Naeem Zamindar, the former Chairman of Board of Investment, emphasised the sense of ownership that is required to be inculcated in order to bring about reforms in the societal behaviours.
Speaking at a concurrent session on 'Intra-regional Investment Cooperation in South Asia for SMEs Development,' former Finance Minister Rana Mohammad Afzal Khan said small and medium enterprises (SMEs) are the backbone of economy, which require strengthening of entrepreneurial skills, trade associations and skill development at micro level to strengthen the role of SMEs in South Asia. He emphasised to establish tax free zones between India and Pakistan to strengthen bilateral trade among these countries.
SDPI Executive Director Dr Abid Qayyum Suleri said, "Economic corridors, trade or strategic corridors can only be successful when we have knowledge corridors in the region." He said that SDPI always tried to be the part of solutions and help governments in providing evidence-based advice to policymakers. He called upon the political parties to reduce the political tensions and evolve consensus on issue of public interest.
He said social mobilisation programmes should be research-backed wherein all the stakeholders should be actively engaged to ensure sustainable development.