Pakistan PM Shehbaz Sharif to visit Egypt for climate summit

Islamabad: Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif will embark on a two-day visit to Egypt on Monday to participate in a high-level summit as part of the 27th UN Climate Change Conference (COP27).

According to the Foreign Office (FO), the Prime Minister will be accompanied by Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari and other Cabinet members and senior officials.

He will attend the Sharm El-Sheikh Climate Implementation Summit on November 7 and 8 as part of the COP27.

The COP is the supreme decision-making body under the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) which meets on an annual basis to review and advance collective efforts to address climate change.

This year's conference is being held in the resort town of Sharm-el-Sheikh from November 6 to 18.

At the invitation of the Egyptian Presidency of COP27, Sharif would also co-Chair, along with his Norwegian counterpart Jonas Gahr Store, a high-level roundtable discussion on “Climate Change and the sustainability of vulnerable communities” on November 8.

He will also participate in other high-level events as a speaker, including the UN Secretary General’s roundtable to launch the Early Warning Systems for Executive Action Plan, and the Middle East Green Initiative Summit on November 7 being hosted by the Saudi Crown Prince and Prime Minister Mohammad bin Salman.

The Prime Minister is also scheduled to hold bilateral meetings with several world leaders on the margins of the summit.

The COP-27 is taking place at a time when millions of people in Pakistan, and millions more in other parts of the world, are facing severe adverse impacts of climate change, said the FO.

As a developing country most affected by this phenomenon, Pakistan would make a robust call, inter alia, for the urgency of climate solidarity and climate justice, based on the established principles of equity and common but differentiated responsibilities and respective capabilities.

The FO said that in its capacity as the incumbent Chair of the Group of 77 & China, which is the largest negotiating bloc of developing countries within the UN system, Pakistan would also lead the bloc in the climate change negotiations; including in thematic areas such as climate finance, adaptation, mitigation, and capacity building.