ISLAMABAD: Planning and Development Minister Ahsan Iqbal on Wednesday emphasised the need to align the Public Sector Development Programme (PSDP) and the Annual Development Plan (ADP) federal and provincial development budgets through coordination to achieve national development targets.

Speaking at a high-level meeting of planning and development ministers of provinces, Azad Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan, he said that post-devolution, this synchronisation was important to achieve `Vision-2025` and other development plans.

He called for the need to have districts level plans forSustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in which communities should be taken on as partners. `The ChinaPakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) is a game changer for all provinces and regions, and they should develop plans to harness future opportunities from this project. The western route of CPEC will bring opportunities for backward areas of Balochistan and KhyberPakhtunkhwa,` he said.

A positive outcome of the meeting was an agreement between federal and provincial governments and Azad Kashmir on developing a national framework for the implementation of SDGs.

The meeting decided that under the framework, the `SDG unit` would be established in provincial governments for achieving these goals.