Global leaders announce massive humanitarian assistance for Pakistan’s flood victims

Geneva: Expressing solidarity with the people of Pakistan, a representative of Saudi Arabia, while addressing the second plenary at International Conference on Climate Resilient Pakistan, said that his country disbursed 153 million Riyals to provide humanitarian assistance to the flood victims.

He said the assistance was aimed at reducing the sufferings of the affected people.

The Saudi Representative said his country has long supported Pakistan in development arena through various projects, adding that, “We have offered deposits of three billion dollars with the State Bank of Pakistan”.

He said the King of Saudi Arabia has also decided one billion dollars investment in Pakistan and this reaffirms our attachment to the economic development of Pakistan.

Virtually addressing the second plenary at the International Conference on Climate Resilient Pakistan, the Deputy Foreign Minister of Azerbaijan announced to provide an additional amount of two million dollars to Pakistan for the rehabilitation and reconstruction efforts in flood affected areas.

The Asian Infrastructure and Investment Bank (AIIB) has pledged to provide one billion dollars to Pakistan for its economic recovery and dealing post-floods challenges.

Addressing the Conference, the Vice President AIIB Konstantin Limitokvskiy said: “We are closely working with Pakistani government and international institutions including International Monetary Fund (IMF) to help Pakistan meet post-flood challenges including infrastructure rebuilding”.

He stated that currently AIIB is working on nine different projects worth of 2.2 billion dollars in Pakistan related to infrastructural development.

Secretary General Royal Humanitarian Foundation Mustafa Alsayed urged the international institutions to contribute generously in Pakistan's Relief Fund.

The Italian representative announced to allocate additional resources to Pakistan with a total amount of 23 million Euros in grants and concessional loans.

Permanent Representative of Norway at the United Nations in Geneva Tine Moris Smith pledged an additional amount of sixty million Norwegian Krone for relief, food security and climate adaptation efforts in Pakistan.

Addressing the Conference, Permanent Representative of Denmark to the United Nations in Geneva said his country has decided to provide an additional amount of 27 million for the United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund (UNICEF) working in Pakistan.

He said the amount will be used for the children affected by the calamity.

Permanent Representative of Iran to the United Nations in Geneva pledged to support Pakistan during the recovery and reconstruction by contributing in kind assistance in the energy sector, namely LPG.

The UN High Commissioner for Refugees, Filippo Grandi has reiterated the commitment to continue Pakistan's support in its efforts for rehabilitation.

In his short address, the High Commissioner also appealed the international community to ensure enough resources for Pakistan to meet the commitments for rehabilitation of flood affected people.

Participating in the conference, Permanent Representative of the Republic of Korea to the United Nations in Geneva said that at the time of last year's floods, his country provided two million dollars' humanitarian assistance, adding that we plan to provide additional support in the future as well.

The Korean Representative said in the context of Pakistan's Build, Back, Better from flood damages this year, development projects in flood-hit areas will be completed at a cost of 48 million dollars.

Vice President of European Investment Bank Kris Peeters said they are fully available to share their expertise to Pakistan in climate action, adaptation and resilience.