Faisal Mosque, Islamabad
Washington: The United States has announced an additional $100 million of recovery and reconstruction funding to Pakistan, bringing its total contribution to over $200 million since last year’s devastating floods in the South Asian nation.
“The new $100 million in funding will be used for flood protection and governance, disease surveillance, economic growth and clean energy, climate-smart agriculture, food security, and infrastructure reconstruction. The funding also includes humanitarian assistance to support flood relief and recovery efforts in refugee-hosting areas,” US State Department Spokesperson Ned Price said here.
He further declared, “We of course want to see Pakistan continue down the path of reform. We want to be a partner. We will continue to be a Pakistan – a partner to Pakistan when it comes to all of its priorities, whether it’s security, whether it’s economic in this case, or humanitarian in the case of the provision of additional funding for flood relief today.
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The U.S. Government has worked closely with Islamabad to provide funding assistance for flood response, food security, disaster preparedness, and capacity-building efforts.
“Our flood-related assistance complements our broader efforts to form a U.S.-Pakistan Green Alliance that looks at the range of climate and resilience issues central to Pakistan’s reconstruction. Pakistan’s recovery and reconstruction will be a continuing process in the months and years ahead, and we will continue to support Pakistan in its efforts to build a more climate-resilient future for its people,” Price said.
When asked about Islamabad’s suggestion at yesterday’s ‘International Conference on Climate Resilient Pakistan’, co-hosted by the Government of Pakistan and the United Nations, that this is time to relax International Monetary Fund conditions on the restructuring package, the US State Department spokesperson told reporters, “This is ultimately a decision for the IMF, so would defer to them on that”.
– global bihari bureau
