The pledges came during the International Conference on Climate Resilient Pakistan in Geneva. Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif is co-hosting the conference along with United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres. The purpose of the day-long conference — attended by heads of state and government among other stakeholders — is to rally international support for rehabilitation of the flood-devastated population of Pakistan, and to reconstruct damaged infrastructure in a climate-resilient manner.
PM Shehbaz sought at least $8 billion from Pakistan’s international partners over the next three years to rebuild the country as Guterres called for massive support to aid the rebuilding effort. It has earlier been reported that Pakistan was originally seeking double the amount, $16 billion, to catalyze its recovery from last year's catastrophic flooding.
Generous Pledges
Participants at the conference appeared to give due deference to PM Shehbaz Sharif’s call for donations, with hundreds of millions of dollars promised even before the conference had begun to invite formal pledges.
Information minister Marriyum Aurangzeb tweeted the first plenary of the conference had culminated in a “generous outpouring” from the international community. As the second plenary of the climate conference began, the minister said development partners were exploring collaborative ways to build back better.
According to the information minister, the Islamic Development Bank pledged $4.2 billion, World Bank $2bn, Asian Development Bank $1.5bn, France $345 million, USAID $100m, China $100m, European Union (EU) $93m, Germany $88m, and Japan $77m. She added that the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) had pledged $1bn, and that Saudi Arabia had also pledged $1bn for Pakistan’s effort to rebuild its climate-affected communities.