Ambassador Munir Akram highlights Pak’s efforts for underscoring the need for climate justice, scaling up climate finance & trade reforms

ISLAMABAD, Nov 05 (SABAH): Federal Minister for Finance and Revenue Senator Muhammad Aurangzeb held a meeting with Ambassador Munir Akram, Permanent Representative of Pakistan to the United Nations, who called on the Finance Minister at Finance Division on Tuesday.

During the meeting, matters related to follow-up and progress on meetings, consultations and discussions held between the Finance and Revenue Minister and stakeholders, including heads of leading financial institutions, commercial and investment banks, bilateral partners, think tanks and government officials came under discussion.

Ambassador Munir Akram highlighted Pakistan’s efforts for underscoring the need for climate justice, scaling up climate finance and trade reforms to supporting developing countries, early operationalization of the Loss & Damage Fund, implementation of the agreement to re-channel 50% of the 2021 SDR (Special Drawing Rights) allocation to development, and putting Secretary-General’s SDG (Sustainable Development Goals) Stimulus proposal into action through an inter-governmental process at the UN.

Ambassador Munir Akram also dilated upon Pakistan’s efforts for advocating a concrete time-bound roadmap for the fulfillment of the developed countries’ 0.7% of GNI ODA (Gross National Income, Official Development Assistance) commitment, establishment of a UN mechanism to facilitate public and private investment in sustainable infrastructure in developing countries, and a fair and fast debt relief and restructuring for countries in debt distress.

Meanwhile Senator Muhammad Aurangzeb held a meeting with a delegation of Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) led by Konstantin Limitovskiy, Vice President Client Region and Project Finance Global, Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) that called on the Finance Minister at Finance Division on Tuesday.

During the meeting, the AIIB team briefed the Minister about the Bank’s portfolio investment in Pakistan, including projects initiated in the hydro power generation, building road and transport sector, urban infrastructure development, building climate resilience and dealing with adverse impacts of pandemics, conflicts and climate-induced flood disasters. The status of ongoing projects and the need for diverting the Bank’s financing from power generation to the transmission and distribution system in view of surplus capacity requiring evacuation were also discussed.

The AIIB team said the Bank views Pakistan as an important partner country, and reiterated the Bank’s commitment to supporting Pakistan in meeting its development goals and overcoming climate-related challenges through policy and budgetary support.

Speaking to the AIIB’s team, Senator Muhammad Aurangzeb acknowledged the Bank’s support for Pakistan, particularly its funding and technical assistance in dealing with natural disasters and the impacts of climate change and disaster preparedness on a long-term basis. He expressed satisfaction over the progress of AIIB projects in Pakistan and emphasized further efforts to improve the disbursement of ongoing projects.

The Minister also recalled his meeting with the President of AIIB, Jin Liqun in Washington DC last month, and mentioned his conversation with Liqun regarding Pakistan’s desire to diversify its financing base by exploring the possibility of issuing a Panda bond with AIIB anchoring the process through partial guarantee to send out a strong signal to the market.