World has pledged more than $800m: Qureshi

[Lahore_Real_Estate]

ISLAMABAD: The international community has donated or pledged more than $800 million to help Pakistan cope with the devastating floods, Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi said on Sunday.

Addressing a press conference on his return from New York where he attended a special UN General Assembly session on the Pakistan situation, the foreign minister thanked the world countries for giving and pledging $815.58 million in assistance to ease sufferings of the flood-hit people.

“In such a situation, when the West and Europe and America are in recession and donor fatigue is being discussed, this kind of solidarity for Pakistan, I think, is very encouraging,” Mr Qureshi said. The UN had appealed for $459 million in initial response funds.

He said the Asian Development Bank had assured Pakistan of providing $2 billion for flood victims.

“There were two main reasons why I attended the UN General Assembly special meeting: first to apprise the world of the magnitude of the disaster caused by floods and second to get more and more pledges from the international community,” he said.

“The session marked doubling of the $460m emergency relief appeal the UN launched on Aug 11. More than 40 countries announced pledges amounting to $254.5 million at the special session of the General Assembly, bringing the total aid pledges to $815.59 million,” he said.

He said the special session of the General Assembly had been meant for one day but it had to be extended to another day because of an overwhelming response from the international community.

The minister said that during his stay in New York he held meetings with several foreign ministers and the UN Secretary General and US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and briefed them about the flood situation.

He said that the agenda of the forthcoming meeting of Friends of Democratic Pakistan to be held in Brussels on Oct 14 and 15 was being revised to include needs of Pakistan in the wake of unprecedented floods.

He lauded the role of the international and national media in the hour of need saying that all international channels were highlighting the floods and helping Pakistan to generate funds. He said that American newspapers were also writing editorials to help Pakistan’s cause.

Mr Qureshi said he also interacted in the US with the Pakistani community and NGOs and asked them to highlight the suffering of the people.

The minister said that during a meeting an EU representative agreed to give Pakistani exports more access to EU markets to offset the losses caused by the crisis.