Climate change is multi-dimensional developmental challenge for developing, developed world: PM

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Syed Yusuf Raza Gilani on Monday said climate change is a multi-dimensional developmental challenge for both the developing and the developed world.

He said keeping in view the all-pervasive impact of the issue, it was a challenge for statesmen, policymakers, planners, thinkers, and professionals, which warranted partnership approach.

The Prime Minister expressed these views while chairing a high-level briefing on the upcoming UN Conference on 'Sustainable Development Rio-20' being held in Brazil on June 20-22.

The Prime Minister will address the morning session on June 21.

More than 120 heads of the governments and States are expected to attend the multilateral Conference, which has been billed as the most important UN Conference of 21st century.

Over 40,000 members of NGOs, academia, media, youth, environmentalists and social activists will attend the conference.

The Prime Minister underscored the importance of enhancing cooperation between the developing and the developed countries in order to effectively deal with the challenge of climate change.

He said it was responsibility of the developed world to recognize the concerns of developing countries regarding sustained economic growth and poverty eradication.

The Prime Minister asked the developed world to commit itself to technology transfer and increased financial resources in an effort to help the developing countries increase their capacity to manage climate change.

Briefing the meeting, Secretary, Ministry of Climate Change, said Pakistan as a Chair of G-77 had played a leading role in achieving consensus on Conference documents during Earth Summit held in Rio in 1992.

He informed that Pakistan was one of the Vice-Chairs of Preparatory Committee of the Summit, which was responsible for preparatory meetings leading to the holding of the main Conference.

Foreign Secretary Jaleel Abbas Jilani said Pakistan was regarded as one of the most active delegates in negotiation process, which led to a consensus on `outcome details' of the Conference.

Minister for Climate Change Rana Muhammad Farooq Saeed, Minister for Foreign Affairs Hina Rabbani Khar, Secretaries of the Ministries of Climate Change and Foreign Affairs and top officials of the relevant departments also attended the meeting.