ACCA hosted the Business Council for Sustainable Development – Pakistan for a multi-stakeholder ‘Leadership and Governance Dialogue on Pathways to Sustainable Future’for Sustainable Development Pakistan chapter at the ACCA Lahore office. The forum brought together senior representatives from business, civil society, government, academia and national and international development organizations in an unprecedented collaborative effort.
Arif Masud Mirza, Head of Policy, MENASA delivered the welcome address and spoke about how the efforts towards implementing strategies to deliver the SDGs will engage the accountancy profession at many levels. He also highlighted the findings on ACCA’s research report, ‘The Sustainable Development Goals: redefining context, risk and opportunity’ and stated that driving investment to build the physical and institutional infrastructure that will recalibrate business, finance and government activity around the SDGs will require both the robust technical skills and sound ethical judgement that the accountancy profession around the world is well placed to deliver.
AmjadParvezJanjua, President BCSD-Pakistan spoke about the importance of creating synergies because achieving this goal is beyond the reach of a single entity. He highlighted, “Collaboration will be key for delivery of the SDGs. There must be a profound working connection between the professionals from the private sector and the government. Hence there is a need and an opportunity for the organizations sharing a common interest in sustainable growth and development to marshal their resources to make a difference.”
He also highlighted that BCSD-Pakistan is developing a Future Leaders Team (FLT) programme as a unique professional development opportunity to nurture sustainability leaders for the future. The programme aims to create a network of dynamic business leaders capable of acting as sustainable development ambassadors both within their companies and in society.The need and importance of sharing lessons and best practices and exploring new strategic themes and initiatives to support a sustainable, inclusive and resilient world was emphasized.
Dr Zafar Iqbal Qureshi, Chairman-Board of Governers, NUR International University in his closing remarks spoke about the need for building synergies and developing institutional capacity to achieve greater efficiency and competitiveness while delivering on the Sustainable Development Goals.