KATHMANDU, July 18 (Xinhua) -- Nepal has vowed to step up its efforts towards realizing the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
"Nepal desires to swiftly complete the unfinished agenda of the Millennium Development Goals, and step up its efforts towards realizing the SDGs. This objective perfectly fits into Nepal's aspiration to become a middle income country by 2030," Min Bahadur Shrestha, vice chairman of Nepal's Planning Commission, said in New York on Tuesday at a UN forum.
Shrestha said Nepal's development endeavor has yielded some progress in socio-economic front in the past few decades, noting that achievements particularly in the education and health sectors have been impressive.
"After a gap of several years, the country's economy is expected to grow by 7 percent in the Fiscal Year 2016-17. This could mark the beginning of a key turnaround for Nepal," he said.
He informed the international community that in collaboration with key development stakeholders, Nepal has set the country-specific SDG-related targets to be achieved by 2030.
"Three high-level committees have been formed to help implement them. At the apex is the Steering Committee chaired by the prime minister himself which demonstrates the highest political commitment," he said.
While talking about Nepal's achievements in gender equality, Shrestha said the Constitution guarantees at least one-third representation of women in the Federal Parliament as well as the provincial assemblies.
Shrestha said Nepal has halved extreme poverty in the past 15 years, and is on track to confine it to less than 5 percent by 2030, he said.
