Islamabad, 27 Jan 2021 : Foreign Minister Makhdoom Shah Mahmood Qureshi has urged the United Nations to address the root causes of conflicts including injustice, inequality and the suppression of the right of self-determination of peoples under foreign occupation, in order to build and sustain global peace. The Foreign Minister made these remarks during the virtual High-Level Replenishment Conference of the UN Peacebuilding Fund (PBF) convened by Secretary General Antonio Guterres on 26 January 2021. PBF is the United Nations’ financial instrument of first resort to sustain peace in countries at risk or affected by violent conflict.
In his video statement, the Foreign Minister underscored Pakistan’s longstanding commitment to UN’s endeavors for peacekeeping and peacebuilding, recalling that over the last 60 years Pakistani troops and police had represented the UN in 46 peacekeeping missions across 4 continents of the world. He also announced a financial pledge as part of Pakistan’s contribution to PBF.

The Foreign Minister stressed that ‘national ownership’ must remain the core principle of peacebuilding and should determine all investment decisions of the PBF. He noted that a major handicap for the developing countries in mobilizing international investment was their inability to prepare commercially viable development projects. To address this issue, he recommended that the resources of the PBF be utilized to support these countries in bringing development projects to a bankable feasibility status. He further suggested that investment for such projects could be sought from other public and private sources, including Multilateral Development Banks as well as Private Equity and Sovereign Wealth Funds.

The High-Level Replenishment Conference took into account the UN Secretary General’s call for a ‘concrete increase’ in financial commitments to support conflict prevention and peacebuilding around the world.

Islamabad,  27 Jan2021 : Integrating mathematical modeling and simulation in research could aide formulate climate change related policies at national and international levels to better deal with changing climate conditions. Such recommendations constituted the core of the deliberations of an international webinar of the Commission on Science and Technology for Sustainable Development in the South (COMSATS) held within the framework of Sustainable Development Goal 13 (SDG13 – Climate Action) titled: “Modeling and simulation on climate change and environmental pollution: Strengthening resilience in the Global South”

Organized by COMSATS Centre for Climate and Sustainability (CCCS), the event brought together intellectual inputs, ideas, experience, best practices and policy advice from Ghana, Iran, Nigeria, Pakistan, and Turkey. The event was held in collaboration with its Centre of Excellence on mathematical sciences, modelling and simulation – the National Mathematical Centre (NMC), Nigeria.
Moderated by Mr. Bilal Anwar, General Manager, Commonwealth Climate Finance Hub, the webinar highlighted the role of modelling and simulations in evidence-based knowledge to formulate policies and legislation to help reduce carbon emissions and increasing adaptation efforts in the Global South.
Addressing at this occasion, Dr. S.M. Junaid Zaidi, said that Commission through continuous support of the Chairperson of the Commission—- President of Ghana, who has been keen for development of Science and Technology, not in Ghana but all also in members states of the Commission having its membership for 27 countries from three continents including Africa, Asian and Latin America.
Mutlistakeholder partnerships, integrated approaches, mitigation and adaption strategies were recognized as the need of the hour to overcome the impacts of climate change in the Global South in terms of floods, heat waves, food security and extreme weather conditions.

NEW YORK, JAN 26 (DNA) – Pakistan has opposed the creation of new permanent seats in the United Nations Security Council (UNSC).

Addressing the first meeting of Intergovernmental Negotiations Framework during the seventy fifth session of the UN, Pakistan’s Permanent Representative at the world body Munir Akram said creation of new permanent seats will make the Security Council less representative, less effective, more divided and erode the principle of sovereign equality of states.

“The Inter-Governmental Negotiations (IGN) remains the only credible platform for a comprehensive reform of the Security Council,” Ambassador Munir Akram said, while re-affirming that Pakistan’s strong opposition to creating new permanent members.

“Any attempts to undermine or derail the IGN process will prove counterproductive,” the Pakistani envoy said when the long-running IGN process resumed in New York on Monday.

Having failed to evoke support for their bid for permanent membership of the Council, he said that the G-4 members were trying to create the ‘fear’ that the opportunity for reform may soon be lost unless their procedural moves to short circuit the process were endorsed.

“We are prepared to breathe new life in the IGN but some states are bent upon killing the process,” Ambassador Akram said.

Full-scale negotiations to reform the Security Council began in the General Assembly in February 2009 on five key areas the categories of membership, the question of veto, regional representation, size of an enlarged Security Council, and working methods of the council and its relationship with the General Assembly.

Despite a general agreement on enlarging the Council, as part of the UN reform process, member states remain sharply divided over the details.

The G-4 have shown no flexibility in their push for expanding the Council by 10 seats, with six additional permanent and four non-permanent members.

On the other hand, the Italy/Pakistan-led Uniting for Consensus (UfC) group opposes any additional permanent members, saying it would make the Council less representative, less effective and more divided and will diminish the right of the vast majority of the UN membership to serve on the Council.

On its part, UfC has proposed a new category of members not permanent members with longer duration in terms and a possibility to get re-elected.

The Security Council is currently composed of five permanent members Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States and 10 non-permanent members elected to serve for two years.

In his remarks, Ambassador Akram said that the UfC proposal to add 11 new non-permanent seats would redress the ‘deficit’ of equitable representation in the Security Council, as it accommodates the interests of all groups.

In 1945, he said, the Council represented 20% of the membership of the United Nations today, it represents 8% of the membership. In 1945, there was one non-permanent seat for 8 member states today, there is one non-permanent seat for 19 member states.

A third of the UN members have never served on the Council Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, for example, is only the second Small Island Developing State (SIDS) to ever serve on the Council, it was pointed out.

The Pakistani envoy said UfC’s proposal can accommodate the aspirations of the African Group, the SIDS, and the Arab Group, & the OIC. The G-4, he said, was unlikely to apply Africa’s regional approach to their own regions.

The consensus-based African model is anchored in the twin imperatives of ‘representation’ and ‘accountability’, he pointed out.

Pakistan and the UfC are keen to build on the progress made during IGN’s previous sessions, Ambassador Akram said, adding that it was only through dialogue and consensus that a solution, enjoying the widest agreement of member states, could be achieved.

“We are ready and willing to work with you to promote this objective,” the Pakistani envoy said. = DNA

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ISLAMABAD, JAN 26 (DNA) – Allama Iqbal Open University(AIOU) has established a facilitation desk at the main campus of the university to facilitate disable students so that they may not face any difficulty while applying for admission, degree/certificate or performing any other routine academic activity at the university.

Rana Tariq Javed, Director, Directorate of Students Affairs and Counseling Services has informed that the university has established this facilitation desk on the special directives of Prof. Dr. Zia Ul-Qayyum, Vice Chancellor, AIOU.

He further added that workers from his department will provide special assistance to these people and the Directorate has provided a wheelchair in the information lobby to support them. Such facilitation desks will also be established in the regional offices of the university, he informed.

It is pertinent to mention here that university provides special financial assistance to disable people to get education from the university. In order to avail this facility, disable students are advised to contact their respective regional offices for further guidance. = DNA

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