‘Continuing arms expenditure hampering poverty alleviation’

Dubai: A group of parliamentarians legislators from India and Pakistan, who met for a dialogue in Dubai, called for more concerted efforts in alleviation of poverty from South Asia.

Highlighting some of the successes in the poverty alleviation efforts in both the countries, the delegates from the subcontinent shared their experiences in Dubai early this week.

The ninth round of Pakistan-India Legislators and Public Officials Dialogue, organised by Pakistan Institute of Legislative Development and Transparency (Pildat), was attended by members of parliament and state legislators, academics and media representatives from both the countries.

The forum focused on the theme of sharing of lessons on developments in poverty alleviation in Pakistan and India.

Delegates from both sides agreed that continued arms expenditure by both countries will be detrimental to the welfare of the people. The participants highlighted that acceleration in economic growth on a sustained basis is an important policy objective for poverty reduction. For this policy, the two countries must introduce reforms in institutions of governance.

Indian delegates, headed by Kirti Azad, member of Lok Sabha, highlighted a number of social safety net programmes that have helped alleviate poverty in India adding that success also needs to be based on equitable and sustained growth and the inclusion of stakeholders other than government.

Pakistani participants, headed by Syed Naveed Qamar, member of National Assembly, showcased economic growth and role of remittances. They said that in order to gain greater benefits of remittances, focus must also be placed on improvement in education and vocational training.

The participants from both countries agreed that there has been some success at global and South Asian level with the reduction in poverty, despite complexity of measuring poverty and disagreements on successful strategies.

The participants expressed concern over the growing gap in rich and poor segments of society in Pakistan and India.

The joint statement said that while the two countries have witnessed relative success in poverty alleviation, there is a need to guard against vulnerable sections of societies from falling into the vicious trap of poverty again.