Federal Planning Minister Ahsan Iqbal on Monday said that developing countries ravaged by climate change-induced disasters would require financing from international financial institutions to survive.

He said this on Monday while addressing an inaugural plenary of the 25th Sustainable Development Conference (SDC) organized by Sustainable Development Policy Institute (SDPI), held jointly alongside UNESCAP’s sixth South and Southwest Asia High-level Political Forum and Policy Dialogue on SDGs.

Iqbal called upon regional countries to make joint efforts in achieving common goals of poverty alleviation, literacy, sustainable socio-economic development, and mitigation of climate disaster impacts.

He said that South and West Asian countries are making concerted efforts to achieve the agenda outlined in the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by the UN, particularly climate change, conflicts, food security, poverty and inequality, which are the major challenges in the way of human developmental gains.

The planning minister urged international financial institutions (IFIs) to set up a special fund that can provide interest-free loans with grace period of up to 30 years for developing countries to cope with climate disasters.

Ambassador Shafqat Kakakhel, the Chairperson of SDPI Board of Governors, said this year’s annual conference is unique in a sense that SDPI, the government, and UNESCAP joined hands to co-host this event. He hoped that the recommendations developed at this conference would be useful for the government and other stakeholders, including its external partners to ensure peace and cooperation in the region.

SDPI Executive Director Dr Abid Qaiyum Suleri said the objective of the forum was to foster and in-depth and shared understanding among the member states and stakeholders on strategies and opportunities at state, and sub-regional level to accelerate the implementation of 2030 agenda.

Mikiko Tanaka, Director and Head of UNESCAP Subregional Office for South and South-West Asia Thailand, said that regional countries are confronting difficult times, therefore, they need to strengthen partnerships for regional development.

She affirmed that UNESCAP will continue to support member countries in achieving SDGs or 2030 agenda.

Knut Ostby, the UNDP Country Director, said Pakistan has made significant progress in certain goals such as poverty eradication, access to energy, under nourishment, food insecurity, housing and climate change.

“We don’t need only concrete buildings, we need society to be resilient,” Ostby said, adding that the current floods have harshly impacted the most vulnerable areas of Pakistan, further intensifying inequalities.

He suggested that recovery from the floods needs to be inclusive and climate-resilient.

Maldives Planning, Housing, and Infrastructure Deputy Minister Fathimath Niuma said that regional and sub-regional collaboration is vital to cope with the COVID pandemic and the SDGs agenda.

She said that the current challenges have made us realize that global and national priorities should be realigned to be more resilient and sustainable.

Sri Lanka’s Finance Minister Shehan Semasinghe said that they were focused on achieving a high level of productivity through a diversified economy.

“The government is committed to ensuring that the progress on SDGs would not reverse due to challenges such as COVID-19,” he said.

South Asian Association of Regional Countries (SAARC) Secretary General Esala Ruwan Weerakoon said that international financial institutions such as the IMF have predicted a loss of $4 trillion in global output until 2026.

Armida Salsiah Alisjahbana, the UN Under-Secretary-General, and UNCESCAP Executive Secretary, said that South Asian countries are at the highest risk of climate-induced events, and we need to incentivize investments in clean energy.

Syed Zafar Ali Shah, Secretary for the Ministry of Planning, Development and Special Initiatives, said that recent flooding in Pakistan has incurred a loss of over $30 billion while the country needs at least $1 billion for the rehabilitation and reconstruction activities in the flood-hit areas.