File photo courtesy PID
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, who reached New York early on Tuesday to attend the 77th session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA), said he will use the opportunity to highlight the plight of Pakistan’s flood-hit communities and call for global support on issues needing urgent attention.
“Reached NY a few hours ago to tell Pakistan’s story to the world, a story of deep anguish and pain arising out of a massive human tragedy caused by floods,” he wrote in a posting on Twitter on Tuesday morning. “In my address at UNGA and bilateral meetings, I will present Pakistan’s case on issues that call for world’s immediate attention,” he added.
According to the Foreign Office, the prime minister would address the UNGA session on Sept. 23, with a focus on the challenges facing Pakistan due to climate change-induced flooding that has left a third of the country underwater. It said he would also share Pakistan’s position on regional and global issues of concern, including Jammu and Kashmir, adding that he would also participate in several events and bilateral meetings on the sidelines of the UNGA session.
Sharif, per the Foreign Office, would participate in a Global Food Security Summit jointly organized by the African Union, European Union and the U.S., as well as a closed-door Leaders Gathering on COP-27 bringing together select world leaders to discuss climate change. He is also slated to conduct several bilateral meetings with his counterparts from various countries, and hold interactions with international media.
Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari would, likewise, attend several high-level meetings and events, bilateral meetings, media and think-tank interactions. The Foreign Office said he would chair G-77 and China Annual Meeting of Foreign Ministers, OIC Annual Coordination Meeting of Foreign Ministers, and participate in the meeting of the OIC Contact Group on Jammu and Kashmir.
Financing woes
On Monday, the foreign minister chaired a High-Level Event on ‘Loss & Damage: New and Additional Financing’ organized by Pakistan. Attended by Egypt Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry, all major blocs in climate change negotiations, and a representative of the Green Climate Fund, the meeting highlighted the recent floods in Pakistan, with Bhutto-Zardari stressing they were a clear manifestation of the unprecedented frequency and intensity of extreme climate events.
Lamenting that initial estimates suggested the total damage caused by the climate-induced disaster could be upward of $30 billion, the foreign minister emphasized that developing countries have disproportionately suffered from the vagaries of climate change while contributing a miniscule amount to greenhouse gas emissions.
Bhutto-Zardari also highlighted a proposal Pakistan had already put forward as chair of the G77 to develop a financial mechanism to compensate developing countries for “loss and damage” caused by extreme weather events. He proposed creating a separate loss and damage financing window by international financial institutions, including development of a standing debt restructuring modality by the IMF to generate an immediate response to climate-induced natural disasters in developing nations.