Federal Minister for Climate Change Senator Sherry Rehman remarked as she spoke to the audience and His Excellency Swedish Ambassador Excellency Henrik Persson on the celebration of Sweden Day in the Capital today. Minister Rehman graced the occasion as a Chief Guest. The event celebrated Sweden Day with the Theme of “Pioneer the Possible” that highlighted Sweden’s journey towards becoming the world’s first fossil-free welfare state. Congratulating H. E Ambassor Henrik Persson on the occasion of Sweden’s national day, the Federal Minister for Climate Change Senator Sherry Rehman praised the audience and exhibitors for the very unique synergy between Pakistani innovation, entrepreneurship and Swedish businesses have exhibited at the Embassy. “I am excited and inspired by all the regular and tech companies I see here. This is a great way to conduct our trade and green diplomacy so really thank you for providing this forum and such settings that encourage the retooling of our leadership as well as how we conceive our diplomacy. Trade diplomacy is critical to Pakistan and to our foreign policy. This also reflects on how we can work together, learn from each other and how our society can bring their specific qualities to the table and create new momentum for change.” Minister Rehman expressed her gratitude on the “fair amount of bilateral cooperation and best practices and working groups specifically on environment we have here. I do want to commend the business council for doing this and framing the event as a trade, technology and environment initiative. I really appreciate that. I would like to invite a strategic working group of the two countries on climate change and the environment. We have a lot to learn and work together on. And we have so little time His Excellency Ambassador Henrik Presson has himself remarked, Pakistan is in the frontlines of a global climate emergency. A clear and pressing crisis facing us now in the crosshairs of a heatwave that you can see is still running as our Margalla Hills are on fire and fire fighters have been braving strong winds and heat to put out forest fires in Khyber Pakhtoonkhwa as well. Here I have met fire fighters yesterday, who I want to take the opportunity to salute at every gathering, every occasion the Capital Development Authority (CDA) fire fighters and the Islamabad Wildlife Management Board (IWMB) fire fighters are fighting with bare minimum equipment because the terrain is so difficult for them to drag the water hoses around the area. This is the norm throughout the fire season but it is need not become an escalated challenge for us year after year.” Advocating on the impact of climate change on Pakistan, Minister Rehman stated that “We understand that biodiversity, climate change and pollution, the three challenges of the 21st century are interlinked. There is no separating either a crisis or a process or a country from its effects. This is one thing the borders do not care about. So if there is a heatwave in one country, the supply chain somewhere else will be affected very clearly. We have a water crisis which is something that we need to partner with global environmental leaders on because we need to leapfrog years of marine pollution, of the exploitation of the Indus River which is our main artery that grows and feeds our crops, and waters our plains and grains. “I want to take the opportunity to commend the spectacular leadership that Stockholm and Sweden put together in Stockholm+50. It was not just the business as usual, it was going beyond all calls of duty because as Her Excellency Madam Prime Minister of Sweden Incumbent Magdalena Andersson had showcased her mind-fullness of the fact that there is a huge climate and development gap between the rich countries and the rest of the world.” Concluding her remarks Minister Rehman thanked the leadership of Sweden for “remembering us in a time of gross COVID-induced inequality. The vaccines that you donated were instrumental in assisting our population and taking us out of a difficult and challenging time.”
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