Minister of Economy – Dr. Mustafa Mastoor
Ministry of Economy has been designated as the lead ministry and focal point to take lead in coordinating, planning, monitoring and reporting on SDGs. Sustainable Development Goals are not economic development; rather certain goals set to be achieved by 2030. Social justice, environmental issues, gender equality and good governance are some key objectives to be achieved by set time period. The SDGs agenda is a golden opportunity for Afghanistan to benefit from. Afghanistan is currently suffering from imbalanced economic situation. For instance, macroeconomic indicators such as poverty, unemployment and shaky economic growth are not clearly in good shape. It is heard many times from the Ministry of Economy and other organizations that poverty in all its dimensions in Afghanistan is above 50%, especially in remote and less developed areas. The poverty is one of the challenges we all face in achieving the SDGs in Afghanistan. Due to hard economic and security conditions in Afghanistan, the level of economic growth is low. Unemployment is one of the main social problems in Afghanistan. Although purchasing power is still not bad in Afghanistan, the trade deficit is 90% due to low production power in the country. That is, most of the items we have on the market are imported. While production can be done domestically, war, political instability and a shortage of production programs especially in the private sector lessens these opportunities. Unfortunately, about 2.4 million of our young people are actively backed up in labor markets. Economic growth in Afghanistan needs to accelerate. According to available data, economic growth is 3% in the recent year. The unsustainable population growth of Afghanistan in comparison to other countries means increasing poverty, higher unemployment and social problems.
If the solution is not thought of, the situation becomes more difficult. Sustainable Development Goals can be a solution for eliminating these problems. Eradicating poverty in all its forms and dimensions is an indispensable requirement for sustainable development. The Ministry of Economy as a lead ministry in working with relevant government agencies, producers, civil society, private sector and academic institutions has done fundamental work for the achievement of sustainable development in the past few years. It has created the opportunity to plan and realize this program such as building institutional structures across different entities as well as agencies such as the Executive Committee on Sustainable Development Goals. The committee has already held more than 100 meetings, which have been technically policy-making and decision-making. Moreover, the Ministry of Economy has set up 76 educational and awareness programs in cities and provinces to inform people, especially those in government institutions and held numerous meetings with international institutions for technical and financial support. As a result of these efforts, we were able to implement a comparative framework for achieving Sustainable Development Goals comprising 16 major and 110 smaller ones across Afghanistan. Sustainable Development Goals must be localized according to the conditions in each country. Achieving these goals requires the participation of all institutions, universities and media. The Ministry of Economy is developing a 10-year economic model for achieving the Sustainable Development Goals. Universities can play a significant role in enhancing the first economic model by the Afghan government for achieving SDGs.
In this regard, we welcomed a 16-member international delegation cooperating with the United Nations Development Program (UNDP).
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