PM Sharif leaves for Geneva to attend Pak-UN conference to raise USD 16 billion for flood victims

Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Sunday left for Geneva to co-host a key conference in Geneva Monday along with the UN Secretary-General to raise more than USD 16 billion for a resilient recovery of his country from last year’s climate-induced catastrophic floods.

More than 33 million were displaced and over 1,700 were killed in the devastating floods that hit the country last summer due to unprecedented monsoon rains.

According to an official statement, the Prime Minister was accompanied by a high-level delegation, comprising Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, Finance Minister Ishaq Dar, Climatic Change Minister Sherry Rehman and Information Minister Marriyum Aurangzeb.

Before embarking on the visit, Sharif in a series of tweets said that he would present the case of flood victims before the world.

“We will place comprehensive post-disaster framework plan for recovery, rehabilitation and reconstruction with resilience before development partners and friendly countries,” he said, adding that Pakistan would also highlight steps taken for relief and rehabilitation of the flood-affected people.

Sharif said humanity is at an inflection point in world history and “our actions today will shape the resilient future for our succeeding generations.” Organisers say delegates from 40 nations will attend the International Conference on Climate-Resilient Pakistan.

Sharif will co-host the event with UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.

He said millions of Pakistanis affected by unprecedented devastation look for compassion and solidarity to build back better and bridging the funding gap would help to restore critical infrastructure, rebuild lives, and livelihoods and revive the economy.

Earlier, Sharif in an article for The Guardian newspaper said that Pakistan needed USD 16.3 billion for the first three years in the first phase of the reconstruction of the flood-hit areas. He said another USD 13.5 billion would be needed for the next 10 years to completely rebuild the areas devastated by the floods.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)