UN to hold special meeting on Pakistan's floods

A special meeting of the UN General Assembly will be held in New York?on Thursday to discuss flood situation in Pakistan, Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi said Monday.

Addressing a news conference in Islamabad, the foreign minister said senior representatives from different countries are participating in the meeting, including US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. He said the United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki Moon will present his report in the meeting.

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Qureshi said he will present Pakistan's view point in wake of the devastating floods in Pakistan. He said the objective is to thank the international community for responding and helping the affected people. He will apprise the international community about the kind of challenge Pakistan is facing and magnitude and scale of devastation caused by floods.

The foreign minister said it is an unprecedented flood and requires unprecedented response from the international community.

He made it clear that the special meeting will be to express solidarity and support with Pakistan and not a pledging session. He, however, said the meeting would help strengthen hands of the UN, which has already launched an emergency appeal of 460 million dollars for relief related activities. The amount is meant to take care of needs of six to seven million people for three month and it would be reviewed after one month.

He said the UN Secretary-General was optimistic that the international community will come up to our expectations and the world body would be able to achieve its target of mobilizing 460 million dollars.