Deputy PM Reaffirms Pakistan’s Commitment to Climate Action.

Baku: Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Mohammad Ishaq Dar has welcomed the IF-CAP commitment to innovation in climate finance instruments to unlock available, affordable, and accessible climate finance to developing countries. Addressing an event titled "Innovative Finance Facility for Climate in Asia and the Pacific" at the sidelines of COP29 in Baku, he highlighted the impact of the 2.5 billion dollars mobilized in guarantees from IF-CAP partners, which will unlock eleven billion dollars in climate finance to support developing member countries. According to Radio Pakistan, the Deputy Prime Minister emphasized the importance of promoting the means of implementation support at a crucial time when negotiations are underway to establish an ambitious new quantified climate finance goal that aligns with the needs and priorities of developing countries. He also expressed Pakistan's support for reforming multilateral development banks (MDBs) and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to address the chall enges faced by developing nations and to enhance currency risk hedging for low- and middle-income countries. Ishaq Dar noted that Pakistan remains one of the top ten countries most affected by climate change, recalling the devastating floods of 2022 which contracted the country's GDP by 4% and resulted in losses and damages exceeding 30 billion dollars. He stressed that Pakistan requires 348 billion dollars to achieve climate resilience by 2030 and remains steadfast in its commitment to climate action in collaboration with the international community.