Federal Minister for Commerce and Investment, Syed Naveed Qamar has lauded the EU and its member states for collectively providing the largest humanitarian assistance worth Euro 133 million as well as for activating the Civil Protection Mechanism and provision of Copernicus emergency satellite service following the devastating floods in Pakistan.

He was talking to Vice President of the European Parliament MEP Heidi Hautala and European Commissioner for Crisis Management Mr. Janez Lenarcic, who held seperate meetings with the Ministers in Brussels.

Talking to Vice President of the European Parliament, Syed Naveed Qamar emphasized that Pakistan is at ground zero of the climate crisis, despite contributing less than one percent of global greenhouse gases. He elaborated that the country has been suffering extreme weather events and has suffered from droughts, forest fires, severe and prolonged heat waves as well as unprecedented and prolonged monsoon rains, which resulted in catastrophic floods.

The Minister highlighted that the floods have inundated one third of country, affecting 33 million people and killing 1,725 people including 643 children. He added that the catastrophe has caused an economic loss of over US$ 40 billion and has pushed the country’s development agenda back by years.

The Minister briefed Vice President Hautala about the climate-induced catastrophe in Pakistan which has caused unprecedented loss of lives and destruction to infrastructure.

In his interaction with the European Commissioner for Crisis Management Mr. Janez Lenarcic, the Commerce Minister thanked him for his visit to the flood affected areas in Pakistan, earlier this month.

Later in the day, the Minister held separate meetings with several key Members of the European Parliament (MEPs), including MEP Tomas Zdechovsky, MEP Fabio Massimo Castaldo and MEP Helmut Scholz. During the meetings, he exchanged views with the Parliamentarians on a broad range of issues, including Pakistan- EU trade and investment relations.

The Members of the European Parliament thanked the Commerce Minister for his briefing on Pakistan’s relations with the EU and agreed to enhance parliamentary exchanges with Pakistan.

Source: Radio Pakistan