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Wednesday, 18 April 2018 02:04 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}
City Planning and Water Supply Minister Rauff Hakeem held a meeting with Pakistan’s Federal Minister for Climate Change, Senator Mushahidullah Khan, to discuss opportunities for mutual cooperation on water, sanitation and climate change.
The bilateral meeting was convened on the side lines of the 7th South Asian Conference on Sanitation organised in Islamabad. Over 700 international and national delegations from eight South Asian countries attended the conference.
Khan welcomed Minister Hakeem and said both countries shared a deep friendship. Further, Khan briefed him on the overall workings of the Ministry of Climate Change in Pakistan and told the delegation that they had a separate ministry handling water issues as well.
He added that they had made remarkable achievements in water conservation. They are building new dams to save water from melting glaciers and the Bhasha and Dasu Dam were two significant names.
He also talked about China’s flood plain system for effective water management. He went on to state that Pakistan and Sri Lanka were two countries which made the least contribution to global carbon emissions but were facing many negative effects of climate change. He said they should collaborate to advance their common interests at international forums on climate change issues.
He also recommended the idea of organising ‘Green Climate Matches’ between the teams of Pakistan and Sri Lanka for public awareness. The Pakistani Minister added that it would help to create mass awareness as cricket was popular in both countries. Hakeem thanked the Pakistani Government for its hospitality and appreciated the fact that Pakistan has a separate ministry working on climate change issues. He also talked about some recent natural disasters, including floods in Pakistan, due to climatic change. He also mentioned that they would like to learn from Pakistan’s expertise with regard to disaster management.
He expressed appreciation over the idea of organising ‘Green Matches’ between the teams of Sri Lanka and Pakistan for public awareness. He agreed to talk to Sri Lanka’s cricket board to organise these matches.
In addition, he spoke about extending this concept to include India as well. Minister Hakeem also proposed signing an MoU between both countries for mutual cooperation in areas concerning the environment and climate change. The meeting ended with a vote of thanks from both sides.
