Pakistan pledges $25,000 contribution for UN Secy Gen's peace building fund

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has announced a contribution of $25,000 to the UN Secretary General’s Peace building Fund, expressing commitment to multilateral cooperation for peace and conflict prevention.

Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi in his virtual address to the High-Level Replenishment Conference for the UN Secretary General’s Peace building Fund late Tuesday, said Pakistan would continue to play an active role in peacekeeping and peace building.

"The pledge underscores Pakistan’s longstanding political, human and financial commitment to UN’s endeavors in peacekeeping and peace building," Qureshi said.

Foreign Minister said, "Today’s event provides a welcome opportunity to reaffirm our commitment to multilateral cooperation for preserving peace, preventing conflict and realizing the Sustainable Development Goals."

Pakistan, he said, like most developing countries had been severely affected by COVID-19 pandemic and was forced to stretch its healthcare systems, contract the economy and constrict its fiscal space.

He said the pledge for contribution despite the ongoing financial difficulties was in fact Pakistan's commitment towards peace.

Qureshi stressed that ‘national ownership’ must remain the core principle of peace building and determine all decisions of the Fund.

He said durable peace within nations could not be externally imposed.

As a major Troop and Police Contributing Country, he said, Pakistan takes pride in its rich UN peacekeeping history.

"Over the last 60 years, our peacekeepers have represented the blue flag in 46 UN Missions across four continents of the world," he said

Foreign Minister welcomed the UN Secretary General’s Peace building Fund Strategy 2020-2024, which focuses on the imperative of conflict prevention.

He hoped that the strategy would galvanize actions to address the root causes of conflicts arising from injustices and inequality, suppression of the fundamental rights especially the right of self-determination under foreign occupation, colonial oppression and alien domination.

"Together with a ‘quantum leap’ in support for the Fund, an effective strategy is required to optimize its scope and impact," he emphasized.

Qureshi said while the Fund may continue financing projects directly in conflict-prone countries, its resources could also be utilized to prepare viable projects for seeking investment from other sources including multilateral development banks, private equity and sovereign wealth funds.

He mentioned that a major handicap of developing countries in mobilizing international investment was their inability to prepare commercially viable projects.

Foreign Minister called for united efforts to leverage the Peace building Fund to support countries in bringing projects to a bankable feasibility status.