USAID Administrator Samantha Power calls on Bilawal Bhutto

Islamabad: The Administrator of United States Agency for International Development (USAID), Samantha Power called on Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari Friday.

While appreciating Power’s visit to Pakistan at this difficult hour when unprecedented rains had caused the most severe floods in Pakistan’s history, the Foreign Minister welcomed US support and solidarity with the people of Pakistan. The Foreign Minister added that the ravaging floods had washed away entire villages affecting over 33 million people; death toll stood at 1300; four million acres of crops were destroyed; 800,000 livestock had been lost; and billions of dollars have been lost in critical infrastructure.

The Foreign Minister underscored that Pakistan was among the most severely affected countries due to climate change, especially with less than 1% carbon footprint. The Foreign Minister underscored that despite Government’s full engagement with rescue and relief efforts, continued international support, solidarity, and assistance was required to respond to the devastating impact of this disaster.

The Foreign Minister looked forward to Pakistan and US building extensive engagement on climate change and on tools of climate resilience. He stressed that the developed countries must step up their climate ambition, including towards the provision of predictable climate finance for mitigating the adverse impacts of climate change in the developing world. He called for greater climate justice and hoped that the developed countries will take all those measures that would support developing countries deal with worst impacts of climate change.

The Foreign Minister thanked USAID for providing financial assistance in the wake of floods and hoped that having witnessed the first-hand account of the devastation faced by the flood affected population, USAID Administrator Samantha Power would mobilize international community to come forward and support Pakistan in such trying times. The Foreign Minister also underlined that the government of Pakistan had instituted very transparent mechanism to ensure that international financial assistance was efficiently and transparently disbursed.

While expressing condolences and sympathies with the flood affected people, USAID Administrator Samantha Power affirmed that the U.S. Administration would extend its full support to Pakistan to help mitigate the disastrous impacts of these floods.