ISLAMABAD: Instead of revisiting the 18th Amendment, building capacity of the federal and provincial governments must be focused on to deal with challenges in the health and education sectors.

This recommendation was made by development economist and former minister of finance and foreign affairs Sartaj Aziz in a paper that was referred to during a seminar titled ‘Comparing Evolution of Federalism in Pakistan and Australia’. The virtual seminar was organised by Pakistan Institute of Legislative Development and Transparency (Pildat) with support from the Australian High Commission.

According to Mr Aziz, duplication of efforts should be avoided between federal and provincial governments in areas such as health, agriculture and population planning.

Pildat President Ahmed Bilal Mehboob presented key takeaways from the background paper written byMr Sartaj Aziz.

The role of the government should be increased in social protection, poverty reduction, higher education and health insurance by better utilisation of the Council of Common Interests (CCI).

Dr Moeen Cheema, associate professor at the College of Law, Australian National University (ANU), shared the history of federalism and constitutional formation in Australia. He saidfiscal federalism is the key to robust federalism.

Published in Dawn,May 24th, 2022