The Center for Global Development (CGD), a thinktank based in Washington D.C. and London will be hosting a high-level CGD event titled, ‘Coping with COVID-19: The Pakistan Experience’ tomorrow. The CGD focuses on international development and works to reduce global poverty and improve lives through innovative economic research that drives better policy and practice by the world’s top decision makers.
In the wake of COVID-19, many countries, international development institutions and global experts have been struck by the exceptional experience of Pakistan during this period. Both in terms of being able to control the spread of the virus and in managing its economic consequence, Pakistan has been able to demonstrate better outcomes than most other emerging market countries.
Three Government of Pakistan’s officials- Asad Umar, Federal Minister for Planning, Development, Reforms and Special Initiatives , Special Assistant to the PM on Social Protection and Poverty Alleviation, Dr. Sania Nishtar and Dr. Reza Baqir, Governor of the State Bank of Pakistan have been invited to speak at this high-level panel discussion. To bring rich international perspective, the discussion will be joined by Dr. Kalipso Chalkidou, who leads the Global Health team at CGD and has written extensively on the international response to COVID; and Dr. Alan Gelb, who has been leading a workstream on the use of digital ID systems in Pakistan and elsewhere to scale up the social safety net in response to the crisis.
In the spirit of encouraging local participation and engagement, CGD will hold this insightful session in association with CDPR, the Pakistani economic research consortium.