Prime Minister Imran Khan yesterday spoke at the High Level Dialogue on Financing for Development at the UN in New York. In his remarks, the Prime Minister highlighted the challenges encountered by many developing countries for repatriation of stolen assets and money from rich countries due to legal and procedural constraints. The Prime Minister noted that ruling elites of the developing countries had stashed funds in tax havens which were acquired through money laundering, corruption and tax evasion. The Prime Minister drew attention of the world leaders to the link of these illicit flows with corruption and resource shifting from developing countries as well as increase in debt burden. The quantum of these proceeds of crime was huge and the illicit outflows deprived poor countries from resources necessary to inter alia eradicate poverty, reduce hunger, fight disease and combat climate change. Underscoring the devastating consequences of such illicit financial outflows for the developing countries, the Prime Minister called for demonstration of political will by the developed countries to lend greater cooperation for return of stolen assets and streamlining of legal processes. Analogizing the negative impact to those of drug money and terror finance, the Prime Minister called for equal attention and focus to eliminate tax havens and off-shore accounts. The Dialogue explored ways of generating domestic and external resources to achieve Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The Dialogue was also aimed at identifying and addressing major hurdles especially for developing countries to implement their national development priorities. The President of General Assembly had organized this Dialogue during the ongoing high level segment of the UN General Assembly. The dialogue was also attended by United Nations Secretary General and a number of Heads of State and Government. -*-*-*-
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