As US climate envoy John Kerry kick-started his tour to Abu Dhabi, New Delhi, and Dhaka, Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan said today that he was "puzzled at the cacophony" over Islamabad not being invited to the climate summit called by US President Joe Biden later this month.
The virtual conference, to be held on April 22-23, will be attended by 40 world leaders, including those from India, China and Bangladesh but not Pakistan, which is ranked as one of the world’s 10 most climate-vulnerable nations.
"My government's environment policies are driven solely by our commitment to our future generations of a clean & green Pakistan to mitigate the impact of climate change," Khan said in a series of tweets on Saturday.
"Hence our initiatives of Green Pak, 10 bn-tree tsunami, nature based solutions, cleaning up our rivers etc. We have gained vast experience in 7 yrs, beg with KP, & our policies are being recognised & lauded. We are ready to help any state wanting to learn from our experience," the cricketer-turned politician added saying that he has already laid out priorities for the UN Climate Change Conference 2021 – COP26 – "if the international community is serious about countering the impact of climate change".
However, Pakistan's exclusion from the invitation list for the summit has been perceived as a major snub for the country by many. Some analysts said that the country remains too low on POTUS' priority list.
The Foreign Office of Pakistan even hinted last week that the country was not invited because it was “one of the lowest emitters — with less than one per cent of the global emissions”.
Local media has come out with its own set of suggestions for their PM.
"Khan can potentially turn this omission into an opportunity. He can organise his own climate summit to showcase his leadership on the issue. And he can invite other developing countries, thereby highlighting his commitment to advocating on behalf of the Global South (as he did last year with debt forgiveness)," an editorial 'Why was Pakistan left out of Biden’s climate summit?' in Pakistan's leading daily Dawn said.
