Paris summit: PM Shehbaz to present stance on global financial firms’ restructuring

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said on Wednesday that he will “present Pakistan’s position on the need for restructuring of international financial institutions” at the upcoming New Global Financing Pact Summit in Paris.

In a tweet in the run-up to his departure for France, where he will participate in the Summit, the PM said the “globalisation of problems” has made it necessary to come up with “creative approaches to rethink the global financial system to make it representative and equitable.”

He added that “as a leading stakeholder in G-77 plus China grouping and also as a country adversely hit by climate change threat, Pakistan is better positioned for this role.”

PM Shehbaz to visit France on Thursday

According to him, reform of international financial architecture has long been a key demand at different forums by representatives of the Global South.

He believes the New Global Financing Pact Summit, set to take place on June 22 and 23, represents a unique ‘opportunity to the world to come together and agree to broad principles and steps needed for a comprehensive reform of the international financial system’.

In a statement on Tuesday, the Foreign Office (FO) said that Pakistan will contribute to the debate at the summit ‘‘as a leading stakeholder in the global discourse, a leader in G-77 and China and one of the largest developing countries most affected by climate change’’.

The premier will also hold bilateral meetings with other world leaders on the sidelines of the summit, the FO said.

At the initiative of President Emmanuel Macron, France is hosting more than 300 heads of state, international organizations and representatives of civil society and the private sector at the Summit.

The aim of the Summit is to lay the groundwork for a new financial system suited to the common challenges of the 21st century, such as fighting inequalities and climate change and protecting biodiversity.