ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Wednesday called the $9.7 billion pledges by the international community at the Geneva conference a “vote of confidence” on the Pakistani nation, assuring the funds would be spent transparently and audited through a third party.
“This is the manifestation of trust and dignity to the government and people of Pakistan by the world nations. They would not have pledged around $10 billion of their taxpayers’ money if they had any apprehensions of any embezzlement in funds as was being propagated by our political adversaries,” the prime minister told a news conference after he returned from Geneva where he co-hosted International Conference on Climate Resilient Pakistan with United Nations Secretry-General Antonio Guterres.
Giving a breakup of the pledged money, the prime minister said the Islamic Development Bank made the biggest pledge of $4.2 billion followed by $2 billion by the World Bank, $1 billion each by Saudi Arabia and the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), $500 million by Asian Development Bank, $100 million each by China and the United States, €380 million by France, €84 million by Germany and $25 million by Qatar, besides others.
The prime minister congratulated the whole nation as well as the government for the unexpected response by the international community as he said the pledges were far above their expectations.
He said following the pledges by the international community, it was the government’s responsibility to ensure the successful and transparent execution of the projects to meet the needs of flood survivors and the world’s expectations.
Appreciating the efforts by ministers for foreign affairs, climate change, finance, information and others, he said the federal secretaries had prepared an efficient roadmap for the reconstruction and rehabilitation of the flood victims.
The prime minister said that despite the worst division created by the opposition in the society, the representatives of federal and provincial governments attended the conference and presented their case to the international community, which was also a display of the nation’s trust in the coalition government.
He specially thanked the UN Secretary-General for supporting Pakistan in its endeavours of building back after it was hit by the worst floods in history. He stated that as the incumbent government was a combination of youth and experience, it was a must to put in all of the efforts to accomplish the objectives of reconstruction and rehabilitation.
The prime minister also thanked the Saudi leadership for hinting at enhancing safe deposit to $5 billion and investment to $10 billion.
To a question, Sharif said the country had sufficient stock of wheat however it was upon the provincial government to release the commodity to the flour mills. He said unfortunately, the provinces were not releasing the required quantity of wheat and assured that the federal government would use its powers to provide relief to the masses.
He told the media that the government was totally aware of the changing global circumstances and that the reconstruction projects would be made resilient using modern technology. The government would spare no effort to achieve the objective and the government’s commitment to transparency through third-party validation would send a strong message to the donors, he added.
When asked about the distribution mechanism of funds, the prime minister said the federating units would get funds considering the flood-caused losses as Sindh suffered the most followed by Balochistan, South Punjab districts, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and a small area in Gilgit Baltistan.
He said the federal government had already transparently distributed around Rs90 billion among 2.7 million households through the Benazir Income Support Program.
Regarding his upcoming visit to the United Arab Emirates, the prime minister said Pakistan desired to enhance its trade and investment relationship with the friendly country. He emphasized that this was an opportunity to strengthen the economic ties between the two nations and attract investment in various sectors such as energy, infrastructure, and tourism.
Responding to a question about the security situation in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, the prime minister mentioned that the province had seen a significant improvement in security in recent years and the government was committed to maintaining this progress. He also emphasized the need for collective efforts to combat terrorism and extremism in the region.
Sharif has affirmed that the international aid pledged to Pakistan will be used transparently and audited by a third party. He also highlighted the government’s efforts to ensure the successful and transparent execution of projects to meet the needs of flood survivors.
He thanked the international community for their support and expressed confidence in the government’s ability to deliver the reconstruction and rehabilitation projects. The prime minister also highlighted the significance of the upcoming visit to UAE and his desire to strengthen the economic ties between the two nations and attract investment in various sectors.
