Federal Minister for Defence Production Zubaida Jalal has said that the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan should review its guidelines related to the Corporate Social Responsibility for the Pakistani business sector to align them with the Sustainable Development Goals-2030 of the United Nations for the developing nations.

The Federal Minister for Defence Production stated this while chairing one of the sessions of 11th International CSR Summit and Awards-2019 organized in Islamabad by the National Forum for Environment and Health (NFEH). Over 55 companies were given awards on the occasion for their commendable performance in the arena of CSR during last one year.

The federal minister said on the occasion that the government, corporate sector, and civil society in Pakistan should align their vision and efforts to do mandatory social work in the society especially to achieve the goal of promoting education among the backward and destitute sections of the population.

She said that business initiatives being launched in the country under the umbrella of China Pakistan Economic Corridor project should lead to socially responsible investments for the good of the local communities.

She said that standardization should be done in the country to define standards of socially responsible investments by the corporate sector and also to bring transparency in their working and spending.

She said that Pakistan could easily transform into a country doing sustainable development if the government, corporate sector, and civil society combined their efforts and resources for benefit of the society.

Also speaking on the occasion, the Ambassador of Germany in Pakistan Martin Kobler said that it would be unfeasible to ask German companies to invest in the industrial estates of Pakistan where the industries mostly didn’t take care about the damage being done by them to the environment through their harmful effluents.

He said that corporate and industrial sector in Pakistan should take care of the environment in their surroundings and should also observe stringent safety standards for labourers working in the factories as their prime social responsibility.

He said that every company should switch to consuming bio-degradable plastic for packing and other purposes in order to safeguard the environment.

The German diplomat said that Germany had switched to power production through renewable means of energy after abandoning the option of nuclear-based electricity production as in this manner it had contributed a lot to control its harmful emissions. “But switching to renewables has led to massive investment and generation of job opportunities in Germany so a country should not link cutting on Carbon Dioxide emissions with its economic growth as this is also the most feasible way to be adopted by Pakistan,” said Mr. Kobler.

Chairman of Sindh Engro Coal Mining Company Khurshid Anwer Jamali said that first electron of electricity based on Thar coal would be produced in the third week of February 2019 as this would also lead to the massive social transformation of people living in Islamkot area where mining project is being undertaken to extract coal for electricity production.

He said that coal-based power generation plants were being installed in Thar area, which meets the national and international environmental standards including that of the World Bank and IFC.

Ali Tauqeer Sheikh, CEO of LEAD Pakistan, said that every business and the industrial entity should become socially and environmentally responsible in its every practice, which had become the business model becoming popular in the developed part of the world.

He said that efforts to do poverty alleviation in a society like Pakistan should also tackle challenges to the climate as poverty could not be overcome without combating the climate problem.

NFEH President Naeem Qureshi said that CSR Summit and Awards were being regularly done on an annual basis to encourage and appreciate excellent social work by the Pakistani corporate sector while setting an example to be followed by the other concerned sections of the society.

He urged the President of Pakistan to institute a civil award in the country to be conferred on a regular basis upon the NGOs or corporate sector involved in exemplary social work in Pakistan.