Plight of poor nations: Pakistan urges world community to mobilise financing

NEW YORK: Pakistan, speaking on behalf of the Group of 77 (developing countries) and China, has called for the international community to mobilize the financing required by the poor nations to deal with the adverse impacts of the coronavirus pandemic, increasing conflicts and depression of global economic conditions, and climate change.

Speaking in the UN General Assembly’s Second Committee, which deals with economic and social issues, Ambassador Aamir Khan, deputy permanent representative of Pakistan to the UN, also stressed the need for appropriate and realistic planning and regulations as steps forward to better resource-utilization and sustainable development.

Despite best efforts, he said in a debate on ‘Operational Activities for Development’ that developing nations are struggling to achieve notable progress on a wide range of goals and targets.

Pakistan is the current chairman of G77 and China, which now has 134 members and is the United Nations’ biggest intergovernmental group of emerging countries.

Noting that severe effects of climate change are adding challenges to attaining Sustainable Development Goal 11, which is aimed at making cities and human settlement inclusive, safe, the G77 chairman emphasized the need to mobilize concessional and grant finance, especially for adaptation.

A facility to deal with loss and damage should be established at the twenty-seventh Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, he added.

Further noting that development activities tend to get side-lined and do not receive as many resources as humanitarian issues and other areas, Ambassador Aamir Khan proposed that the United Nations development system provide more capacities and access to concessional finance.

Expressing concern over inadequate funding of the UN Resident Coordinator system, he underscored that adequate, predictable and sustainable funding for the development system’s activities is crucial for sustainable development.

Such resources should be utilized in accordance with national priorities, he added.

Reiterating that South-South cooperation cannot be measured and assessed in the same way as official development assistance (ODA) as its value “goes beyond direct and indirect costs”, Ambassador Aamir Khan expressed hope that the conceptual framework by the Statistical Commission would further be developed.