Pakistan on Thursday announced that it would be pledging $3 million to the SAARC COVID-19 Emergency fund established after Prime Minister Narendra Modi called for the region to unite against the virus in March.
As per a release by Pakistan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Pakistan has pledged the amount to support regional efforts in the fight against the coronavirus.
“While communicating Pakistan’s decision to the SAARC Secretariat, it has been conveyed that all proceeds of the Fund should be administered by the SAARC Secretariat and that the modalities for the Fund’s utilization should be finalized through consultations with the Member States as per the SAARC Charter,” the release said.
According to the release, Pakistan’s perspective in this regard had been conveyed through a telephone conversation between Foreign Secretary Sohail Mahmood and SAARC Secretary General Esala Ruwan Weerakoon on Thursday.
Pakistan had earlier been the only country in SAARC not to contribute towards the fund. India had initially announced it would contribute an amount $10 million with the option to contribute more later. Bangladesh announced a contribution of $1.5 million while Afghanistan and Nepal pledged $1 million each. Sri Lanka had the highest contribution after India at $5 million, while the Maldives and Bhutan pledged $200,000 and $100,000 respectively.
Within days of Modi’s announcement of the fund, India had already dispatched supplies including medical equipment, sanitisers and other items to the Maldives, Sri Lanka, Afghanistan, Nepal, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka through the release of $1 million allocated by India for the fund.
Pakistan was initially seen as cool to the idea, as they did not send Prime Minister Imran Khan to attend the video-call, and in addition, used the call to raise up the Kashmir issue.
“Being a founding member, Pakistan considers SAARC an important platform for regional cooperation. Pakistan remains committed to the SAARC process and will continue working with the Member States to strengthen regional cooperation,” the release said.
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) had recently announced that it would be approving a rapid-financing facility to provide Pakistan $1.4 billion by next week, after postponing a review of the three-year $6 billion loan package that had been approved in July 2019.
The idea for the fund came after Modi’s video-conference with SAARC leaders, which was attended by Bhutanese Prime Minister Lotay Tshering, Bangladesh premier Sheikh Hasina, Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, Maldivian President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih, Nepalese Prime Minister Oli, Afghanistan President Ashraf Ghani and Special Assistant to Pakistani Prime Minister on Health Zafar Mirza.
South Asia has over 12,000 cases of COVID-19 as of Thursday, with India having the most at 6,653 cases in total, followed by Pakistan with 4,489 cases. Afghanistan had 484 cases, while Bangladesh followed with 330. Sri Lanka has 190 cases while the Maldives has 19. Bhutan and Nepal have just five and nine cases each.
SAARC was founded in 198 as the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation and serves as a regional intergovernmental organisation and geopolitical union of Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, the Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.
