ISLAMABAD: Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif will leave for Riyadh today, Tuesday, to attend the One Water Summit from Dec. 3-4, the premier’s office said in a statement on Monday.
A joint initiative of Saudi Arabia, France, Kazakhstan and the World Bank, the summit aims for high-level political commitments to promote global cooperation and a coherent international approach toward water resource management.
“At the Summit, the Prime Minister will deliver a keynote address at a roundtable focusing on restoration, preservation, and adaptation in the context of fresh water resources and wetlands,” Sharif’s office said.
“He will also highlight steps being taken by Pakistan to promote water conservation, strengthen climate resilience, improve water quality, create livelihoods, and conserve biodiversity.
“The prime minister will underline the importance of international cooperation to tackle the impact of climate-induced floods, erratic and extreme weather patterns, and heat stress on water resources and ecosystems. He will also call for meaningful international collaboration for sustainable water resource management.”
Sharif is also expected to hold bilateral meetings and engagements on the forum’s sidelines.
The summit is being held on the margins of the next high-level session of the sixteenth session of COP16 of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD). It aims to contribute to ongoing United Nations discussions and processes to enhance global water governance, accelerate action on SDG6 on water and sanitation, and build on the momentum of the UN Water Conference in 2023.
The forum will also act as an incubator for solutions in preparation for the next UN Water Conference in 2026, and integrate its agenda into the other existing water processes and initiatives such as the World Water Forum, the Dushanbe Conference and the World Water Week.
“The One Water Summit’s ambition is to scale-up projects by stimulating partnerships between states, international organizations, local authorities, development and private banks, businesses, philanthropies, scientific experts, NGOs and civil society, in line with previous One Planet Summits,” the forum’s website said.
Pakistani PM to attend One Water Summit in Riyadh today
https://arab.news/r89j4
Pakistani PM to attend One Water Summit in Riyadh today
- Summit is a joint initiative of Saudi Arabia, France, Kazakhstan and the World Bank
- Sharif expected to hold bilateral meetings and engagements on forum’s sidelines
Bangladesh-Pakistan flights resume after 14 years
- National carrier Biman Bangladesh Airlines departed for Pakistan’s Karachi city with 150 passengers
- Since 2012, travelers between both nations have used connecting flights to reach their destinations
DHAKA, Bangladesh: Direct flights between Bangladesh and Pakistan resumed on Thursday after more than a decade, as ties warm between the two nations that have long had an uneasy relationship.
Bangladesh and Pakistan — geographically divided by about 1,500 kilometers (930 miles) of Indian territory — were once one nation. They split after a bitter war in 1971.
Since 2012, travelers between Bangladesh and Pakistan had to use connecting flights through Gulf hubs such as Dubai and Doha.
On Thursday national carrier Biman Bangladesh Airlines departed for the Pakistani city of Karachi, the first regular flight since 2012.
Mohammad Shahid, one of 150 Karachi-bound passengers on board, said he was happy to be able to travel more frequently than before, when he could only make the journey once every two or three years.
“We had been waiting for such an opportunity because we travel continuously,” he told AFP in Dhaka.
“There are so many people waiting in Pakistan to come here, and some waiting here to go there.”
Direct flights will now operate twice weekly.
Biman said in a statement that their resumption would “play a significant role in promoting trade and commerce, expanding educational exchanges, and fostering cultural ties between the two countries.”
Ties with fellow Muslim-majority nation Pakistan have warmed since a student-led revolt in Bangladesh overthrew Sheikh Hasina in 2024, ending her autocratic 15-year rule.
Over the same period, relations between Bangladesh and Hasina’s old ally India have turned frosty.
Cargo ships resumed sailing from Karachi to Bangladesh’s key port of Chittagong in November 2024.
Trade has risen since then and cultural ties have grown, with popular Pakistani singers performing in Dhaka, while Bangladeshi patients have traveled to Pakistan for medical care.
