UNITED NATIONS: The United Nations (UN) Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Monday said that Pakistan needs “strong” support from the world community to deal with the vast devastation caused by the unprecedented floods in August, pointing out that three times the area of his country — Portugal — was under water.
“There is a huge responsibility of the world community to support Pakistan,” Guterres said when a correspondent of Pakistan’s state news agency asked about his expectations from the January 9 international conference in Geneva aimed at mobilizing support for the flood-hit country for reconstruction work.
The secretary-general will co-host the conference with the Prime Minister of Pakistan, Mohammad Shehbaz Sharif.
The floods have affected 33 million population and killed over 17 hundred people.
UN Secretary-General mobilizing international community
“I am committed to doing everything possible to mobilize the international community to support Pakistan, ” he told his year-end press conference at UN Headquarters in New York.
“I’ve been in Pakistan immediately after the floods have occurred,” he said, adding, “I was dramatically impressed by what I’ve seen.
“Three times the area of my own country flooded, terrible loss of crops and animals and houses and life, for the population of Sindh and Balochistan, an absolutely devastating situation, and I believe the international community has a strong responsibility to support Pakistan that has contributed in a very minimal way to climate change.”
The secretary-general said it aimed to mobilize the needed resources in the upcoming Geneva conference fully. “I was also in recent contact with the IMF and World Bank that hopefully will also be from these two institutions, meaningful action, and the Pakistani people, deserves and needs a strong expression of international solidarity,” the UN chief added–APP
