Minister for Finance Senator Mohammad Ishaq Dar on Monday said Pakistan will perform its due role at international fora on issues of climate change. He was talking to a 4-member delegation of International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD) led by its Director General, David Molden which called on him. The minister said the government was according due importance to environmental protection and climate change issues.
Ishaq Dar appreciated the efforts of ICIMOD and desired that the organisation should co-ordinate with ministries concerned for implementation of its projects in Pakistan. The Director General ICIMOD informed that ICIMOD was a regional organisation engaged in providing technical assistance and sharing knowledge on climate issues and environmental stability.
It serves eight regional member countries of the Hindukush Himalyas-Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, China, India, Myanmar, Nepal and Pakistan. The organisation is based in Nepal, he added. Climate change and other issues related with the environment have an increasing influence on the stability of fragile mountain ecosystems and livelihoods of the mountain people, Molden remarked. The meeting was attended by Chairperson Benazir Income Support Programme, Marvi Memon, UN Resident Co-ordinator, Neil Buhne and other senior officials of Ministry of Finance, Economic Affairs Division, Ministry of National Food Security and BISP.