Islamabad: Pakistan agreed to contribute USD 3 million to the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation’s (SAARC) recently set-up Covid-19 emergency fund on Thursday, according to a news report. The Foreign Office released a statement to this effect.
Pakistan’s government pledged this contribution after a telephonic conversation between Foreign Secretary Sohail Mahmood and SAARC Secretary General Esala Ruwan Weerakoon. It also has its own Covid-19 relief fund, which citizens are encouraged to donate to. SAARC’s fund is meant to aid the region in the fight against the Covid-19 pandemic, and has pledges from each of its members.
Pakistan pledged USD 3 million; Sri Lanka, USD 5 million;
India, USD 10 million; Bangladesh, USD 1.5 million; Nepal and Afghanistan, USD
1 million each; Maldives, USD 0.2 million; and Bhutan, USD 0.1 million. The
fund now has pledges worth a total of USD 21.8 million. Indian PM Narendra Modi
proposed this fund in SAARC’s virtual meeting between leaders on March 15. The
aim is to help all the countries in the region deal with this pandemic as
efficiently as possible.
