Following substantial pledges from the international community for Pakistan’s flood rehabilitation and climate resilience building, Prime Minister (PM) Shehbaz Sharif accompanied by federal ministers, held a press conference in Islamabad to discuss the figures that the country received.
On Wednesday, the premier announced that the Geneva conference proved to be successful as the world pledged a total of $9.7 billion.
Giving a breakdown of the amount pledged at the conference, the prime minister said Saudi Arabia committed $1 billion, followed by China $100m, Qatar $25m, Canada $18.6m, Denmark $3.8m, European Union €87m, France €380m, Germany €84m, Italy €23m and Azerbaijan $2m.
During the conference, he said that the world trusted this government, adding that, “It is now upon us to utilise the amount on infrastructural development and for the development of other important sectors.”
“The ball is now in our court. We now have to transparently spend every single penny on the people’s prosperity”, he affirmed.
He added that the incumbent regime would keep up their work until the flood-affected populace was repopulated into their homes.
Answering a question about the sit-in in South Wazirabad against terrorism, and militancy, the prime minister said the National Security Committee (NSC) discussed the issue in detail.
Foreign Minister (FM) Bilawal Bhutto Zardari termed the PM’s foreign policy “successful”, citing the amount raised for flood victims and simultaneously dispelled the “myth” that Pakistan was isolated.
Bilawal said the requirement of $16bn [for flood recovery] in times of Covid, as well as the crisis triggered by the Ukraine-Russia conflict, was “no joke”.
Earlier this week, an International Conference on Climate Resilient Pakistan was held in Geneva which was co-hosted by Pakistan and the United Nations (UN). PM Shehbaz addressed the platform and asked the world to pour in support for Pakistan.
