STATEMENT OF THE DELEGATION OF THE REPUBLIC OF INDONESIA AT INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON CLIMATE RESILIENT PAKISTAN, GENEVA, 9 JANUARY 2023
H.E. Shehbaz Sharif, Prime Minister of Pakistan
H.E. Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Pakistan
MR. ACHIM STEINER, UNDP Administrator,
Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen,
1. Allow-me, to begin by commending the swift steps of the Government of Pakistan in leading the response and recovery efforts to bring normalcy back to the people.
2. Mother nature has once again sent us a reminder on the importance of matching our climate change targets and ambitions with our collective action to implement them.
3. Collective is the key word, as no country has the capacity to do address climate change alone… We all need to work together… in strengthening our climate actions.. enhancing our resilience and reducing our vulnerabilities to climate change.
4. It is also reminder for us to redouble our efforts to reduce the risk of disaster through the implementation of the Sendai Framework and its targets…
-> which includes international partnership and supporting developing countries in realizing their DRR strategies.
5. It is with these in mind that we welcome today’s conference and support the the 4RF.
Excellencies,
6. Our hearts and mind is always with our brothers and sisters in Pakistan since the beginning of this calamities.
7. Since August 2022, Indonesia has delivered a number in kind and financial assistance to help the government and the people of Pakistan in the recovery stage of the disaster.
8. The Government and the people of Indonesia, has mobilized 100 tons of humanitarian assistance in the form of medical equipments, sanitary products, electrical generators, and other logistical equipment amounting to 1,2 million USD.
9. We have also dispatched a medical team of 29 personnel to provide health assistance to the impacted population in the Province of Karachi.
10. Most recently, less than 2 weeks ago, the Government has further contributed a cash contribution of 1 million USD to the National Disaster Management Authority of Pakistan for rehabilitation and reconstruction efforts.
Excellencies,
11. As a country which is exposed to no less than 3,300 disaster events in 2022 alone, allow-us to share three key lessons learned on large-scale disaster recovery and reconstruction drawn from the reconstruction of Aceh following the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami.
12. First, Organize… all governments have immense pressure to show quick results to recover from a natural disaster.
-> It is therefore important that a coordinating agency is established or designated and equipped with the necessary authority and a strong leadership to take charge of the reconstruction efforts.
13. Second, Execute… behind every disaster, there is an opportunity to “recover stronger” the affected communities.
-> This mean more than just re-building physical facilities that is superior in quantity and quality…
-> but also an opportunity to strengthen social capital, and community capacities through community-led reconstruction initiatives… by involving the community in all stages of the reconstruction.
-> This will serve as both an aid to trauma healing, and at the same time improve projects governance and transparency.
14. Last, Fund… while we know that funding is critical… there is a need to ensure both financial efficiency and sustainability… the two are mutually reinforcing and important to maintain the support of the international community… that in turn will encourage a high conversion rate of pledged funds.
15. It our outmost confidence that Pakistan will be able to recover from this disaster better, greener and towards a more resilient society.
16. The government and people of Pakistan can always count on Indonesia as a friend and a partner.
Thank you.
