Caretaker Minister for Planning, Development and Special Initiatives Muhammad Sami Saeed has said that addressing the challenges relating to climate change were top priority of the government and under the umbrella of Special Investment Facilitation Council (SIFC), key measures were being taken in this regard.
This was stated by him on Thursday while addressing the 26th Sustainable Development Conference (SDC) organized by the Sustainable Development Policy Institute (SDPI) here, a news release said.
Sami Saeed addressed the thematic session titled, “Impact of Climate Change on Food & Nutrition Security in Pakistan, the session was held in collaboration with World Food Program (WFP) and SDPI. The panelists of the session included Country Director World Food Program (WFP) Ms Coco Ushiyama, Nutrition Division WFP Ms Lynnda Kiess, Dr Friederike Greb, Dr Irfan Ullah from Nutrition International Pakistan, Dr Aneela Afzal from PMAS-AAU, Rawalpindi, Muhammad Daniyal Masood from NUST. The event was attended by a larger number of people from different walks of life including students and civil society activists.
The minister while emphasizing the adoption of strategies highlighted by the experts to address this crisis said, “The government is well aware of the climate crisis and several interventions are being undertaken to address the issue under the umbrella of SFIC as agriculture is one of the key areas of this council.”
Stressing the need to enhance agricultural practices and resilience to ensure food supply in Pakistan, he said Pakistan aimed for increased productivity through international best practices and welcomed foreign investment in the corporate agriculture sector.
The SIFC was established earlier this year to attract foreign and local investments while targeting five key areas which include Agriculture, Defense Production, Mining/Minerals, Information Technology and Telecommunication and Energy.
It may be noted that Pakistan has vast potential for foreign investment in the fields of agriculture as Pakistan is a semi-industrialized economy with a well-integrated agricultural sector that contributes 22.9 per cent to Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and creates 37.4 percent of jobs, ensures food security and provides raw materials for industry.
Last year, Sami Saeed said Pakistan faced unprecedented devastation due to torrential rains and flooding in most parts of the country, which affected 33 million people and caused economic losses worth $30 billion.
