Islamabad: Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan on Saturday said he is puzzled over not being invited to participate in a virtual global climate summit on April 22-23 by US President Joe Biden.
“I am puzzled at the cacophony over Pak not being invited to a climate change conf!,” the Prime Minister tweeted.
According to a statement issued by the White House, 40 leaders from across the world, including India and Bangladesh, were invited to the summit in an attempt to “to galvanize efforts by the major economies to tackle the climate crisis.”
Mr Khan averred that his government’s environment policies are driven solely by their commitment to future generations of a clean & green Pakistan to mitigate the impact of climate change.
“Hence our initiatives of Green Pak, 10 bn-tree tsunami, nature based solutions, cleaning up our rivers etc. We have gained vast experience in 7 yrs, beg with KP, & our policies are being recognised& lauded. We are ready to help any state wanting to learn from our experience,” the Pakistan premier said.
In another Twitter post, he pointed out of already laying out the priorities for the UN Climate Change Conference 2021 – COP26 if the international community is serious about countering impact of climate change.
Several Pakistan media reports suggest that public and government officials are annoyed over the country’s exclusion from the summit despite the fact that Pakistan is fifth most vulnerable country to climate change globally.
Experts believe that it could be a gesture to convey Pakistan’s lack of global importance, or a hardball tactic to compel Islamabad to help Washington achieve goals in Afghanistan or on counterterrorism.
