Press Release: Federal Minister for Climate Change, Senator Mushahid Ullah Khan and Korean Minister for Environment, Yoon Seongkyu, have pledged to boost cooperation in environment, pollution, climate change adaptation and mitigation, renewable energy, water management,flood risk mitigation, hazardous waste management, and climate-resilient infrastructure construction.
Both ministers met in Daegu city of South Korea on April 15 on the sidelines of the week-long 7thWorld Water Forum that began on April 17 underthe theme Water for Our Future.
Korean Minister for Environment, Yoon Seongkyu, told Senator Mushahid Ullah Khan that Korean government is ready to help Pakistan deal with issues of climate-change induced disasters, environmental degradation, particularly escalating air and water pollution, hazardous waste, water mismanagement and lack of climate-resilient public infrastructure development.
“We are keen to work with Pakistani government in these areas and wish to sign some memorandums of understanding (MoUs) with Pakistan to help the country achieve socio-economic development goals while tackling climate-change induced threats, particularly floods,” He said during his meeting with the Federal Minister for Climate Change, Senator Mushahid Ullah Khan.
The meeting between the two ministers was held on April 14 (Tuesday) in Daegu, a metropolitan city of South Korea, on the sidelines of the week-long 7thWorld Water Forum that began on April 12.
The Korean environment minister, Yoon Seongkyu, also discussed ways and means for initiating capacity-building programmes for government officials in the fields of climate change, environment, flood and water management
, air and water pollution, hazardous waste management and construction of climate-resilient infrastructure.
Mushahid Ullah Khan thanked the Korean minister for his generous offers and assured him that he will play his part in actualizing the Korean offers to Pakistan for fighting environmental degradation and climate change.
The minister also assured his Korean counterpart that he will pave the way for signing of the MoUs and formalization of relevant formalities once he is back to Pakistan on April 16.
“We assign high value to the Korean offer as Korea has good and adequate experience in tackling environmental degradation and climate change-induced disasters, flood and water management. However, Pakistan can also learn from such Korean experience through technology and technical know-how transfer,” the minister Mushahid Ullah Khan said.
Earlier, the Korean minister thanked Mr. Khan for his participation in the 7thWorld Water Forum and addressing the ministerial session.
Mushahid Ullah Khan also invited his Korean counterpart, Yoon Seongkyu, to visit Pakistan to further boost collaboration to jointly fight common environmental and climate change-related issues.
Director-General (Environment and Climate Change) at the Ministry of Climate Change was also present during the meeting, who also shed light on Pakistans escalating vulnerability to climate change-induced disasters, particularly floods, and importance of Korean experience in coping with environmental degradation and climate change risks.
The 7thWWF is a global event organised every three years by the World Water Council (WWC) in collaboration with the authorities of the host country, with core aim of coping with growing global water challenges collectively.
WWC is an international organization consisting of water-related organisations, governments and international organisations. It was founded in 1996 to provide a forum for global water issues.
Academics, research institutions, enterprises, professional networks, governments and policy-makers, NGOs, media, as well as representatives from various fields such as agriculture, food or energy from over 170 countries attend the event.
The Pakistani delegation, headed by the Senator Mushahid Ullah khan is attending the global event. The delegation also joined the world water community at the 7thWWF in welcoming the anticipated Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) on water and sanitation and other water-related targets in the SDGs for the next 15 year period, following the Millennium Development Goals, to be adopted in September 2015 at the United Nations General Assembly.