Pakistan Gets Invited To Biden's Climate Change Summit

The United States has invited Pakistan to attend President Joe Biden’s Climate Change Conference after initially excluding it from the list of participants, as reported on Monday.

Following Pakistan's initial omission from the summit, Prime Minister Imran Khan had replied by saying that “he was puzzled at the discordance".

“Pakistani government's environmental policies are managed merely by our commitment to our future generations of a clean and green Pakistan to lessen the effect of climate change,” elaborated the PM. The exclusion of Pakistan from the list of attendees to the conference had raised concerns as the country is one of the most vulnerable to climate change among other countries.

According to the Global Climate Risk Index 2021, released by German Watch, a non-profit organization, Pakistan is in the fifth position among countries vulnerable to climate change. But, a few weeks later, US Special Presidential Envoy for Climate John Kerry wrote a letter to the Federal Minister and Adviser to Prime Minister of Pakistan on Climate Change Malik Amin Aslam.

Amin Aslam was invited by the special envoy on behalf of the US President to reveal his views on climate change during the conference. "The goal of the meeting is to find ways to strengthen joint global efforts against the climate crisis," as per the letter said by the US official to Aslam.

"At the conference, the United States will establish a 2030 target for the Paris Agreement," the letter stated, adding: "The leaders of the countries most influenced by climate change have also been invited to the meeting."

The United States has asked global heads, including the leaders of China and Russia, to become part of the summit on climate change in April. Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin are among the 40 world leaders invited to the conference, to be organized on April 22-23, as per the White House statement.

Read more: Shah Mahmood Qureshi In Berlin, Germany On A Two-Day Visit

Biden’s Earth Day global conference on climate is including in his effort to raise climate change as a top priority. It will be held virtually owing to pandemic restrictions and live-streamed for public viewing.