Pakistan's Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Maleeha Lodhi has called for helping the middle-income countries to attain long-term debt sustainability and financial inclusion.

She was speaking at a debate in the UN General Assembly on gaps and impediments faced by middle-income countries in the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

Highlighting the middle-income countries' leading role in achieving Sustainable Development Goals, she said these countries contribute almost half of the global GDP, but they are also home to seventy three percent of the world's poor.

The Pakistani envoy urged the United Nations and all other stakeholders to focus attention on middle-income countries, which have large concentration of the poor population, for achievement of SDGs.