Caretaker Prime Minister Anwaarul Haq Kakar on Friday joined world leaders at the Dubai Expo City for a high-level segment at the 28th United Nations climate summit.
According to a statement issued by the PM’s Office, the premier was received by United Arab Emirates President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan and United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres upon arrival at the venue.
The 28th UNFCCC Conference of Parties (COP) commenced in Dubai’s Expo City on Thursday with 52,000 party delegates and 90,000 non-party delegates joining this year’s proceedings.
The summit opened with good news for poor nations struggling to cope with natural disasters, as delegates adopted the “loss and damage fund” to help the developing world bear the cost of climate-driven damages.
PM Kakar is leading the Pakistani delegation in the high-level segment and will attend the World Climate Action Summit on Dec 1 and 2. Foreign Minister Jalil Abbas Jilani, Finance Minister Dr Shamshad Akhtar, Federal Minister for Climate Change Ahmed Irfan Aslam and Energy Minister Muhammad Ali are also participating in COP28.
Yesterday, the prime minister joined the chorus calling for the immediate operationalisation of the newly-approved fund, and called for its utilisation “on merit” to help states in need.
“If we wait for a UN framework it will take years [and] years. Therefore, initially it is possible to operationalise it under the World Bank and other multilateral entities,” a PM Office statement quoted him as telling CNN.
He said the utilisation of the fund should not be linked with development funds and loans from multilateral financial entities, rather the loss and damage funding should be in addition to these.
Currently, he said, Pakistan’s focus was on transformation from coal-based power plants to renewable energy projects.
“This is the area which could attract interest of countries here in Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), UAE, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and the settled economies and democracies on the Western side, so it is an opportunity for all of them and all of us,” he added.
The prime minister pointed out that Pakistan was not primarily responsible for contributing to the climate disaster in which the country’s two provinces Sindh and Balochistan faced historical devastation.
“Everyone knows who [has] been contributing in last one century so it is more of a question of an honest conversation rather than passing judgment on countries and economies,” he remarked. Therefore, he said, the responsibility shown by the wealthy nations themselves would be a welcome step.
from The Dawn News - Home https://ift.tt/u6I8HyY
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