Japan and the US pledged yesterday to provide US$1 billion each in economic aid to Pakistan over the next two years as they seek to support a country seen as crucial to South and Central Asian stability.
“Pakistan plays an extremely important role in the international fight against terrorism and extremism,” Japanese Prime Minister Taro Aso said at a meeting of the Friends of Pakistan group in Tokyo.
At the opening of the meeting, Aso announced Japan’s pledge of aid, and the US embassy in Japan announced the US would donate the same amount.
Their combined assistance was expected to account for half the pledges to be made at the conference.
Aso said he recognized Pakistan’s potential to grow economically and pointed out the importance of cooperation from the international community in maintaining peace and stability in the region surrounding Pakistan, especially near the border with Afghanistan.
Pakistan faces numerous hurdles that range from a lack of infrastructure and increasing poverty near its borders to a shortage of training programs, Aso said.
Visiting Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari expressed the commitment of his government and people to defeat terrorism and militancy.
As Zardari called on the participating states to help fight terrorism, he said, “If we lose, you lose. If we lose, the world loses.”
The meeting called on Pakistan to strengthen its diplomacy to attract further support from the international community while emphasizing the need for solidarity within the country, which has been racked by internal political turmoil and rivalries, a chairman’s statement said.
For Pakistan’s economic growth, the member states urged the country to increase policy reform and encourage growth in the private sector as well as its accountability and transparency.
At the opening of the donors conference, Zardari assured about 30 attending nations and international groups that his country was ready to face its challenges.
“I assure you that with your support and with the support of the world, we are ready to do all that it takes to rid the world of this menace, which is a world problem,” Zardari said, referring to extremism and terrorism.
“I feel that you are giving us a new hope, which I can go back with to give to the people of Pakistan and tell them: ‘The world stands with you,’” he added.
World Bank vice president Isabel Guerrero, as a co-chairman of the meeting, urged Pakistan to commit to eradicating poverty and regaining economic growth and emphasized the importance of improving its infrastructure and increasing agricultural productivity.
The US special envoy to Pakistan and Afghanistan, Richard Holbrooke, called the conference successful because of large contributions from a range of countries and groups, including Saudi Arabia, the EU and the United Arab Emirates.
Archeologists in Peru on Thursday said they found the 5,000-year-old remains of a noblewoman at the sacred city of Caral, revealing the important role played by women in the oldest center of civilization in the Americas. “What has been discovered corresponds to a woman who apparently had elevated status, an elite woman,” archeologist David Palomino said. The mummy was found in Aspero, a sacred site within the city of Caral that was a garbage dump for more than 30 years until becoming an archeological site in the 1990s. Palomino said the carefully preserved remains, dating to 3,000BC, contained skin, part of the
‘WATER WARFARE’: A Pakistani official called India’s suspension of a 65-year-old treaty on the sharing of waters from the Indus River ‘a cowardly, illegal move’ Pakistan yesterday canceled visas for Indian nationals, closed its airspace for all Indian-owned or operated airlines, and suspended all trade with India, including to and from any third country. The retaliatory measures follow India’s decision to suspend visas for Pakistani nationals in the aftermath of a deadly attack by shooters in Kashmir that killed 26 people, mostly tourists. The rare attack on civilians shocked and outraged India and prompted calls for action against their country’s archenemy, Pakistan. New Delhi did not publicly produce evidence connecting the attack to its neighbor, but said it had “cross-border” links to Pakistan. Pakistan denied any connection to
TRUMP EFFECT: The win capped one of the most dramatic turnarounds in Canadian political history after the Conservatives had led the Liberals by more than 20 points Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney yesterday pledged to win US President Donald Trump’s trade war after winning Canada’s election and leading his Liberal Party to another term in power. Following a campaign dominated by Trump’s tariffs and annexation threats, Carney promised to chart “a new path forward” in a world “fundamentally changed” by a US that is newly hostile to free trade. “We are over the shock of the American betrayal, but we should never forget the lessons,” said Carney, who led the central banks of Canada and the UK before entering politics earlier this year. “We will win this trade war and
Armed with 4,000 eggs and a truckload of sugar and cream, French pastry chefs on Wednesday completed a 121.8m-long strawberry cake that they have claimed is the world’s longest ever made. Youssef El Gatou brought together 20 chefs to make the 1.2 tonne masterpiece that took a week to complete and was set out on tables in an ice rink in the Paris suburb town of Argenteuil for residents to inspect. The effort overtook a 100.48m-long strawberry cake made in the Italian town of San Mauro Torinese in 2019. El Gatou’s cake also used 350kg of strawberries, 150kg of sugar and 415kg of
RSS