PARIS (Staff Report) – Prime Minister Muhammad Nawaz Sharif Sunday arrived here on a two-day visit to France to represent Pakistan at the 21st UN Climate Change Conference (COP21) being held in the French capital from November 30 to December 11.
The Prime Minister is accompanied by First Lady Kalsoom Nawaz Sharif and his Special Assistant on Foreign Affairs Tariq Fatemi.
He was received at the Orly Airport by senior French officials, Minister for Climate Change Zahid Hamid, Pakistan’s Ambassador to France Ghalib Iqbal and other senior officials of the
embassy.
Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif will deliver his speech on November 30, opening day of the two-week event, which is scheduled to be attended and addressed by 147 world leaders, including United
States President Barack Obama, Russian President Vladimir Putin, Chinese President Xi Jinping and British Prime Minister David Cameron.
The Prime Minister, who in his address is expected to highlight Pakistan’s efforts in tackling the climate change challenges, will also join the world leaders at a lunch to be hosted by French President Francois Hollande in the honour of the heads of state and government.
Despite November 13 terrorist attacks in Paris, the organizers were committed to go ahead with the event as planned. The main events of the COP21 are taking place at Le Bourget, outside the city center, where French authorities have taken stringent security measures to keep the site safe.
Besides addressing the Climate Change Conference, the Prime Minister is also expected to hold some bilateral meetings on its sidelines.
Minister for Climate Change Zahid Hamid told APP that the Paris Conference was important for Pakistan as being included among the countries having minimal level of emissions it expected the
developed world to reach an agreement on this issue of global importance.
He said that Pakistan also expected the world to provide required resources and technology to tackle the challenges of climate change in the wake of its enhanced focus on development in the areas
of energy and water shortages and the ongoing work on China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC).
