Poverty reduction is primary indicator of development: PM

Kathmandu, Sept. 24

Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli on Thursday addressed a high-level side event entitled ‘Poverty at a Crossroad: Using Leadership and the Multidimensional Poverty Index to Build Back Better’ organised on the margins of the 75^th Session of UN General Assembly.

Addressing the event through a pre-recorded video, Prime Minister Oli said that with only a decade left to achieve the 2030 Agenda, progress made in poverty reduction should be a primary indicator in assessing the overall development efforts.

He stressed that investing in people and preventing them from re-lapsing into poverty would be a key challenge amidst the current health and economic crisis, according to a statement issued by the Permanent Mission of Nepal to the United Nations in New York.  

PM Oli underlined Nepal’s policies aimed at ending all forms of discrimination and deprivation, and promoting economic growth based on equity and social justice. "We are committed to ensuring that no one remains hungry and no one dies of hunger," he stated. 

Highlighting  poverty as a multidimensional problem in Nepal, the Prime Minister shed light on the government’s targeted programmes for reducing poverty, illiteracy and unemployment. He further outlined the efforts made towards improving delivery of essential services, including universal access to renewable energy, basic water supply and sanitation.

The high-level event was co-hosted by the Governments of Chile and Pakistan in collaboration with Multidimensional Poverty Peer Network and United Nations Development Programme.

Presidents of Afghanistan, Chile, Costa Rica and Honduras, Vice President of Ecuador, and Prime Minster of Pakistan were also among the leaders who spoke on the occasion.

Published in The Rising Nepal daily on 25 September 2020.