Pakistan was yesterday set to ask for billions in international support for its recovery from the aftermath of last year’s devastating floods and to help it better resist climate change.
To meet its huge needs, Pakistan and the UN were cohosting an international conference in Geneva, Switzerland, to urge countries, organizations and businesses to step up with financial and other support for a long-term recovery and resilience plan.
Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres were to launch the one-day event, which was also to feature speeches by heads of state and government.
Photo: AP
French President Emmanuel Macron, his Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen were also to address the conference via video link.
According to Pakistan’s Resilient Recovery, Rehabilitation and Reconstruction Framework, which it was planning to officially present at Monday’s conference, US$16.3 billion would be needed in all.
Pakistan’s government aims to cover half that amount with “domestic resources,” including its development budget and through public-private partnerships, but it is looking to the international community to cover the remainder, with the hope that yesterday’s conference would generate significant pledges of support.
About 450 participants from about 40 countries have registered for the event, including representatives of the World Bank and several multilateral development banks.
“The waters may have receded, but the impacts are still there,” UN Development Programme Administrator Achim Steiner said ahead of the conference, describing the floods as “a cataclysmic event.”
“There is a massive reconstruction and rehabilitation effort that needs to be undertaken,” he said.
The flooding, which killed more than 1,700 people and affected about 33 million others, still has not receded in some southern parts of the country.
Millions of people remain displaced, and those who have been able to go home are often returning to damaged or destroyed homes and mud-covered fields that cannot be planted.
Food prices have soared, and the number of people facing food insecurity has doubled to 14.6 million, UN figures showed.
The World Bank has estimated that up to 9 million more people could be dragged into poverty as a result of the flooding.
Pakistan and the UN have said that the event would be broader than a traditional pledging conference, as it aims to set up a long-term international partnership focused on recovery, but also on boosting Pakistan’s climate resilience.
Pakistan, with the world’s fifth-largest population, is responsible for less than 1 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions, but is one of the most vulnerable nations to extreme weather caused by global warming.
In a market in the Chadian capital, N’Djamena, customers flock to Ache Moussa’s stall to have their long plaits smeared with a special paste in an age-old ritual. Each strand of hair, from the root to the end, is slathered in a traditional mixture of cherry seeds, cloves and chebe seeds, the most important ingredient of all. Users say the recipe makes their hair grow longer and more lustrous. Local and natural hair products are gaining popularity across Africa as people turn away from commercial cosmetics. Moussa applies the mixture and shapes the client’s locks into a gourone — a traditional hairstyle consisting of
The US yesterday wrapped up its first multidomain exercise with Japan and South Korea in the East China Sea, a step forward in Washington’s efforts to enhance and lock in its security partnerships with key Asian allies in the face of growing threats from North Korea and China. The three-day Freedom Edge increased the sophistication of previous exercises with simultaneous air and naval drills geared toward improving joint ballistic-missile defense, anti-submarine warfare, surveillance and other skills and capabilities. The exercise, which is expected to expand in years to come, was also intended to improve the countries’ abilities to share missile warnings —
‘ONE FELL SWOOP’: Overturning a landmark ruling that said judges should defer to experts would ‘cause a massive shock to the legal system,’ a dissenting opinion said Prosecutors overstepped in charging Jan. 6, 2021, rioters with obstruction for trying to prevent certification of the 2020 presidential election, the US Supreme Court said on Friday, throwing hundreds of cases into doubt, while another controversial ruling struck down 40 years of legal precedent on federal agencies’ ability to regulate critical issues. The matter was brought to the court through an appeal by former police officer Joseph Fischer, a supporter of former US president Donald Trump who entered the Capitol with hundreds of others in 2021. Writing for the majority, Chief Justice John Roberts said prosecutors’ interpretation of the law would “criminalize
‘APOCALYPTIC : An UN official said that Lebanon was ‘the flashpoint beyond all flashpoints,’ and a conflict that involved it would draw in Syria and other nations Israel on Wednesday said that it does not want war in Lebanon, but could send its neighbor “back to the Stone Age.” The border between the two countries has seen daily exchanges of fire between Israeli forces and Hezbollah militants since the attack on Israel by Hezbollah’s ally Hamas on Oct. 7 last year, which triggered the war in Gaza. Fears those exchanges could escalate have grown in the past few weeks as cross-border attacks intensified and after Israel revealed it had approved plans for a Lebanon offensive, prompting new threats from Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah. Israeli Minister of Defense Yoav Gallant said