ISLAMABAD, OCT 19 /DNA/ – “What goes on in Pakistan [in terms of climate change] will not stay in Pakistan. The devastating recent floods in Pakistan were nature’s memo to humanity delivered through Pakistan,” said Federal Minister for Climate Change Senator Sherry Rehman. She was speaking at the event titled “Pre-COP 27: From Paris to Sharm El-Sheikh” jointly organized by the Institute of Regional Studies (IRS), the Civil Society Coalition for Climate Change (CSCCC), and Sustainable Development Policy Institute (SDPI) here on Wednesday.

Senator Sherry Rehman called for inclusive global decision-making on climate change and urged the international community to not only meet the commitments made under Paris Agreement but also to set more ambitious goals at COP 27. She highlighted that the vulnerable population of Pakistan was already experiencing impacts of climate change on their lives through changing weather patterns, crop losses, and water shortages, placing them among bottom 1% of climate risk pyramid. With reference to the upcoming COP 27, the Minister said that Pakistan’s slogan would be premised around questioning the world on how long it was expected of a country like ours to tolerate this dystopia at our doorstep, especially considering, that we had a minimal part in inviting its creation.

She iterated that while Pakistan’s share in global contribution to climate change was minimal, there is serious need among elite faction in the country to rethink their carbon-rich lifestyles which directly affected vulnerable communities. In addition to major behavioural and lifestyle changes, the Minister added, a comprehensive risk reduction mapping, developed consultatively with the provinces and the federating units was vital for effective engagement on climate change globally. Most importantly, climate financing must be reoriented toward facilitating the developing countries, she added. Senator Rehman said that the materialization of approved projects followed unrealistic timelines, amplifying the root cause(s) of the crisis in the process. She stressed that responsible and effective mitigation lied in capacity-building in three areas, i.e., resilience, adaptation, and financing.

Earlier, in his welcome remarks, President IRS Ambassador Nadeem Riyaz shared that half of the world was susceptible to climate change in the twenty-first century. He shared that COP 27 will aim at providing viable options for climate finance, adaptation, loss and damage, and increasing ambitions.

The Ambassador of France to Pakistan, Mr Nicolas Galey highlighted that the assistance provided by the French government to Pakistan in providing relief to the victims of floods. He called for greater attention toward the needs of the vulnerable communities in the aftermath of natural disasters in Pakistan. Mr Tarek Dahroug, the Ambassador of Egypt to shared that climate change could reduce global economic output by 4% by 2050. He further added that efforts will be made during COP 27 to urge the international community to meet its climate financing goals without any delay.

Samey Shoukry, Egyptian Minister for Foreign Affairs and COP 27 President said in his video message to the audience of the Conference that it was time the world realised that it needed to do more, act swiftly and rather decisively to ensure a qualitative response to climate change.  He added that COP 27 was the COP of implementation and required urgent consideration of normative frameworks and operational needs.

Syed Mujtaba Hussain, Senior Joint Secretary Ministry of Climate Change said that Pakistan had tried to adopt nature-based solutions via tree plantation and creation of Protected Areas as interventions during the previous COP, however the NDCs still had serious challenges. Some of these challenges, he added, were, lack of collaboration on provincial and federal levels, absence of focus groups, absence of specific reporting mechanisms for better monitoring and lack of access to international financing platforms. He said that there was need for policy and project based interventions in order to come up with a workable roadmap to address this challenge.

Mr Bilal Anwer, CEO NDRMF said that Pakistan needed to scale up ambition, action, supported by finance. He said that no action could be completed without finances and technology transfer. He said that there were serious challenges in the form financial gaps in mitigation, stressing that we needed to go beyond the socio-economic perspective on the debate. Speaking about COP 27, he said that it was imperative to discuss financial mechanisms for loss and damage, scaling up support for adaptation, strengthening emission reduction, increasing capacity of institutions and ensuring transparency and reporting on climate finance.

JAKARTA, OCT 19 /DNA/ – Ambassador of Pakistan to Indonesia, Timor Leste and ASEAN Muhammad Hassan called on Indonesian Minister of Tourism and Creative Economy SandiagaSalahuddin Uno in his office today to discuss bilateral cooperation in tourism sector.

During the meeting, the Ambassador briefed the Minister about bilateral relations in diverse fields, including political, economic, trade, defense and culture and the desire of the government to further expand the bilateral cooperation in all these areas. He gave a detailed presentation on Pakistan’s tourism potential including, adventure tourism, halal tourism, cultural tourism, and religious tourism etc.The Ambassador also stressed on the need for starting direct flights between Pakistan and Indonesia, easing the visa requirements for Pakistani nationals, and proposed granting them visa on arrival.

Minister Salahuddin acknowledged the historical and brotherly relations between Pakistan and Indonesia and the tremendous scope for cooperation in tourism sector between both the countries. He expressed his keen desire to expand this cooperation.

 He mentioned that Indonesia had six (6) polytechnic institutes of tourism which could train Pakistani tour operators in Indonesia. He also proposed to cooperate in other sectors of creative economy including culinary, fashion, arts, handicrafts, etc.

Regarding visa on arrival facility for Pakistan nationals, the Indonesian Minister assured that they would give this proposal positive consideration. He also promised to look into the cumbersome visa process and in consultation with other stakeholders would try to make it easier and more friendly. Both sides also agreed to expedite signing MoU in tourism sector.

ISLAMABAD: Federal ministers Khawaja Asif and Sherry Rehman on Tuesday suggested the formation of a “Truth and Reconciliation Commission” for the resolution of Balochistan’s issues after their ally Akhtar Mengal raised the issue of missing persons in the National Assembly.

“Balochistan’s issues must be resolved,” said Asif in the lower house after Mengal briefed the house on the problems facing the province.

The defence minister said that the “elites” of the country have made mistakes and admitted that some of the sins and crimes were committed by the rulers. He also lamented that politicians have spoken on the issue verbally just to get votes.

The minister shared that a battle for power has been ongoing in Pakistan and targeted his party’s arch-rival Imran Khan.

“[Last] government was removed via constitutional and legal way. The person whose government was removed is blackmailing the state,” said Asif. He urged that the battle for power can be fought later.

Asif also deplored that after one and a half years after independence, different opinions were not tolerated.

Khawaja Asif said the points raised by Akhtar Mengal regarding the Balochistan situation are genuine and there is a dire need to heal the wounds of the people of the province. 

He said the problems of Balochistan can be addressed by sitting together with the leaders and people of Balochistan.

On the other hand, Climate Change Minister Sherry Rehman said that a war is being fought in the name of religion but it was only a “war of power” — a reference to Imran Khan’s call terming his Azadi March as “jihad” against the government.

The PPP MNA said that they do not want terrorism to increase in the country as it is “ours” and have to save it.

“We should be taken into confidence about the operation that is going on,” said Rehman. She added that Pakistan has been able to wipe out al-Qaeda from its soil through successful operations but now the TTP was taking over.

“The problems of Balochistan should be heard to start reconciliation. We should also hear the bitter truth about the problems of Balochistan,” said Rehman. She also urged the courts to hear human rights cases.

As regards Balochistan, she proposed the formation of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission to take the situation towards improvement in the province.

Mohsin Dawar also supported the establishment of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, saying it is imperative to take the country in the right direction.

ISLAMABAD, Oct 19: /DNA/ – Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Hina Rabbani Khar on Tuesday met the Diplomatic Adviser to the French President Emmanuel Bonne and discussed the current status of Pakistan-France bilateral relations.

During the meeting held at Élysée, the official residence of the French president, they also exchanged views on important regional and global matters.

Khar also met today Mr. Bertrand Walckenaer, Additional Director General, French Development Agency (AFD) at Pakistan Embassy in Paris. She lauded AFD’s contribution in energy, sustainable urban development and climate resilience projects in Pakistan. Future cooperation areas also came under discussion.

In the evening, the Minister of State for Foreign Affairs held a meeting with Senator Pascal Allizard, President of France-Pakistan Friendship Group in the French Senate and Senator Madam Gisèle Jourda, member of the Group. The meeting was held at the historic building of the French Senate.

MoS appreciated the role played by Senator Allizard in furthering bilateral relations between Pakistan and France, especially in terms of parliamentary cooperation.

Both sides also discussed political, trade, investment, economic , cultural and education ties between the two countries as well as the situation of floods in Pakistan.