Special Assistant to the Prime Minister (SAPM) and Convener Parliamentary Task force on SDGs Romina Khurshid Alam on Monday said effective implementation of law and its respect through behavioral changes was crucial to the inclusive development in the country. “Implementation of laws and behavioral changes, which are imperative to reinstate respect for law, social responsibility and social norms, will ensure that the development is inclusive and reaches under-developed and underprivileged communities,” she said while speaking at a roundtable discussion on “Inclusive economic growth: An imperative for sustainable economic development”. The SAPM said that bureaucratic operations should be simplified through one window operation so that the development agendas were delivered timely and efficiently. She stressed that developed countries which were major contributors of global carbon emissions must be called out and held responsible for their actions that developing countries were paying for. “Climate finance is not aid rather legitimate right of climate vulnerable countries and responsibility of high carbon emitting countries,” she added. Joint Executive Director SDPI, Dr Vaqar Ahmed called for achieving sustainable economic development to overcome contemporary challenges. He said there was a dire need that the government opted for solution-oriented approach and forward-looking planning, and should look at the current floods as an opportunity to reset social protection which must be backed by well-thought out targeted economic policies rather than burdening future generation with loans. Frequent changes in tax, tariffs and reversals of economic policies had long term negative implications and discourage foreign direct investments, he said, adding Pakistan needed to diversify foreign investments from multiple countries. Ermeena Malik, technical Advisor World Bank suggested formulating comprehensive yet complex interventions to strengthen state owned enterprises and regulatory bodies especially in energy sector to transform the sector. Ayesha Ilyas, coordinator Advocacy and Outreach, SDPI, drew attention to the fact that desperation and despair among flood victims was rising which would lead to higher gender violence and crime rates if they were not provided timely relief.