ISLAMABAD: In meetings with world leaders at the Climate Implementation Summit in Egypt, Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said he had strived to highlight the importance of “continued international support” for flood victims.
Sharif was last month invited to co-chair the United Nations Climate Change Conference, or COP27, by Egyptian President Abdul Fattah El-Sisi after the Pakistani PM ran an international campaign to raise awareness about climate change in the wake of floods this year that killed over 1,700 people, affected 33 million, and cost the South Asian nation more than $30 billion in damages.
Weeks after the rains stopped, millions of Pakistanis are still living under the open sky, without shelter and livelihoods as winter arrives.
“In my interaction with world leaders on the sidelines of #COP27, I explained the challenges of the post-flood reconstruction in Pakistan,” Sharif wrote on Twitter.
“I threw light on govt’s efforts & highlighted the urgent need for continued international support for rehabilitation of flood victims.”
On the second day of the COP27 summit on Tuesday, Sharif would co-chair an important roundtable on “Climate Change and Sustainability of Vulnerable Communities,” along with his Norwegian counterpart.
Besides meetings on the sidelines, the Pakistani premier would participate in an important meeting jointly hosted by the German chancellor and the president of Ghana on “Scaling Up Action and Support on Loss and Damage — Global Shield Against Climate Risk.”
On Monday, Sharif met with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and reviewed cooperation between the two countries to confront climate change. He also met the President of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) Mohammed bin Zayed Al-Nahyan, Secretary General of the Arab League Ahmed Aboul Gheit and other world leaders on the sidelines of the climate summit to discuss joint efforts to confront climate change.
The prime minister also attended a high-level round table, titled “Early Warning for All Executive Plans Launch,” on Monday, where he emphasized that Early Warning System (EWS) had become a must for underdeveloped and climate-affected countries.
“Given the time, the use of advanced technology and the early warning chain will help improve the four elements of disaster risk awareness, risk detection, prevention and preparedness,” he informed the forum.
Sharif and his team, which includes climate change minister Sherry Rehman, are attending COP27 with the aim to use the summit to get the world to commit to helping countries like Pakistan deal with growing climate-related “loss and damage.”
