Todays Latest News Analysts term establishment of 'Loss & Damage Fund' at COP27 climate summit diplomatic win for Pakistan

 Analysts term establishment of 'Loss & Damage Fund' at COP27 climate summit diplomatic win for Pakistan

Foreign Office Spokesperson (Mumtaz Zahra): I would like to welcome the announcement that countries adopted a hard-fought final agreement at the COP27 climate summit that sets up a fund to help poor countries being battered by climate disasters. After tense negotiations that ran through the night, the Egyptian COP27 presidency released the final text for a deal and simultaneously called a plenary session to quickly gavel it through.  I would say this development is a major victory for Pakistan at the diplomatic level. Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari and Minister of State for Climate Change Sherry Rehman, and other officials of the Ministry also deserve appreciation in this regard. Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has also welcomed the development as the “first pivotal step towards the goal of climate justice”.

Javed Ali Khan (Environmentalist, Former Director General, Environment and Climate Change):  I think that the establishment of a loss and damage fund is an investment in climate justice. The establishment of the fund is a positive milestone in the fight against climate change. I hope that developing countries will be provided technical assistance to avert and minimize the impact of climate change.  For the past 20 years, Pakistan has been consistently ranked among the top 10 most vulnerable countries on the Climate Risk Index. All teams who worked with the Foreign Minister in this regard deserve appreciation as Pakistan has succeeded in getting its demand for the 'Loss and Damage' fund as Chair of G-77 plus China.

Dr. Farooq Adil (Senior Analyst):  There have been many rumors that Pakistan is facing the danger of going to default.  Some negative forces, including PTI, have been spreading false propaganda over the country's default risk. Pakistan has adopted a path of stability and saved it from going to default. The news about Pakistan's default risk is based on a malicious campaign initiated by the previous government of PTI, which has no reality. The incumbent government, under the leadership of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, succeeded in removing Pakistan from the gray list.     

Zulfiqar Badar (Spokesman, Foreign Minister): There was no diplomatic engagement in the era of the previous government, and Pakistan was isolated across the globe. There was a huge communication gap and diplomatic disengagement. Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, after taking oath as the foreign minister, visited the United Nations Food Security summit where he held a meeting with US Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken and also held certain side-line meetings. Then he visited China, Saudi Arabia, Germany, World Economic Forum, and others. He got successful in IMF resuming the bailout package and removing Pakistan from the FATF blacklist. Recently in COP-27, it is unprecedented that a new role has been formed where a fund with the name of Damage and Loss Fund was established to address the issue of climate change. It will benefit Pakistan and we must congratulate the efforts of the foreign minister for his marvelous advocacy for Pakistan in this regard. The infrastructure, livestock, and agriculture sectors have been badly affected due to the devastating floods in the country. The foreign minister talked about climate justice and we are hopeful for positive outcomes against the efforts of Bilawal Bhutto on the diplomatic front.

Rana Ihsan Afzal (Coordinator to PM on Commerce & Industry): The opposition parties are planting the propaganda that Pakistan is on the edge of default. Former Prime Minister Imran Khan is making all-out efforts to do so by creating political instability in the country. However, the conspiracy hatched by him has been exposed. 22% of Pakistan’s external debt is commercial borrowing and the remaining 72% is from multilateral and bilateral donors. A country never defaults on its bilateral and multilateral borrowing and can only default on its commercial debt. We are capable and have financial planning to ensure that we can return to commercial borrowing and bonds in the coming months. For this financial year, we have also planned the shortfall in dollars, which is the debt payment this year which is almost 22 billion dollars, and the current account deficit. By the end of this year, we will be able to manage our foreign reserves. Saudi Arabia announced deferred of over 10 million dollars to Pakistan and also expressed willingness to invest in Pakistan.

Published by WWN, November 20, 2022