LAHORE, Sept 7: The Punjab Planning and Development (P&D) Department launched on Friday with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) the Punjab Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) of 2011.

This is the first ever report prepared by a UN agency and contains progress of various MDGs in the province.

P&D Secretary Arif Anwar Baloch said the government had allocated Rs86.46 billion for the social sector, which is 49 per cent of the development portfolio.

United Nations Resident Coordinator and UNDP Resident Representative Timo Pakkala said the report provided a comprehensive picture of the province in terms of its achievements towards MDGs.

He said despite adverse situations like floods, law and order and global economic meltdown having impact on the economy of the province, the Punjab had performed better than other provinces and in many indicators its performance was ahead of the national average.

Mr Pakkala reiterated the UNDP and UN System support for Punjab to enable it accelerate its efforts for achieving the MDGs by 2015.

He thanked the government for facilitating the UNDP and other UN agencies in preparing and finalizing the report which he hoped would help policy makers identify gaps in indicators, particularly in health and education, and formulate policies towards achievement of MDGs.

Panelists Dr Naved Hamid of Lahore School of Economics, Dr Abid Aman Burki and D Ali Cheema from LUMS said that further research on the causes of slow progress in certain indicators needed to be seen in depth so that its reasons were well identified and addressed to by the government.

The ceremony was well attended by government officials, academia, researchers and members of the civil society.