By RTCC Staff
Pakistani PM Gilani described the effects of climate change in his country as "horrible". (Source: Flickr/IIP State)
Pakistan could cooperate with India to combat climate change, Pakistani Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani told the World Economic Forum on Thursday.
Speaking at a panel event on climate change, Gilani said his country had an “excellent” relationship with India and described collaboration between the two nations as “doable”.
Asked whether the two could work together he said: “Yes, certainly there can be cooperation. We have excellent relationship with India and we want to work together”.
“[There] have been having a number of delegations from both countries on various matters like finance and industry. Certainly cooperation is doable,” Gilani said at the annual WEF meeting in Davos.
“[Climate change] is quite visible in my country. We have suffered both drought and heavy rains in the past year. It was horrible, not just by our estimates but also as per the estimates of World Bank and Asian Development Bank,” said Gilani.
The Prime Minister also advocated a global approach to dealing with climate change and called on the acceleration of the establishment of the Green Climate Fund (GCF). The GCF was expected to be finalised in Durban at the UN climate change talks but progress was slower than expected.
“If the glaciers in Himalayas melt, there will be huge floods in Pakistan,” he said adding that Pakistan has created a disaster management unit, overseen personally by Gilani.