UN Chief to pay two-day visit to Pakistan from tomorrow

Islamabad: UN Secretary-General António Guterres will pay a two-day visit to Pakistan from Friday to express solidarity with the country braving a colossal climate-induced natural disaster caused by unprecedented rains and floods.

During the visit, Secretary General Guterres will have meetings with the Pakistani leadership and senior officials to exchange views on the national and global response to this catastrophe caused by climate change.

The Secretary-General will travel to areas most impacted by the climate catastrophe. He will interact with displaced families and first responders in the field, and oversee UN’s humanitarian response work in support of the Government’s rescue and relief efforts for millions of affected people.

In a statement, Foreign Office Spokesperson Asim Iftikhar said the Secretary-General’s visit will further raise global awareness about the massive scale of this calamity and the resulting loss of life and widespread devastation. It will contribute towards enhancing commensurate and coordinated international response to the humanitarian and other needs of the 33 million affected Pakistanis.

The spokesperson said the Secretary-General actively supported the 160 million dollars UN Flash Appeal to fund Pakistan’s Flood Response Plan.

Asim Iftikhar said the UN Secretary-General has been consistently stressing the linkage of such disasters with the impacts of climate change and warning the international community about the existential threat to our planet in case climate change was not addressed in a timely and effective manner.

The spokesperson said the Secretary General’s visit will also spotlight the importance of sustained international support for Pakistan through the rehabilitation and reconstruction phase, and for building resilience against future climate shocks.