'Pakistan can use APS55m pledged by UK at COP26 to build flood-hit infrastructure'.

KARACHI -- The British Deputy High Commissioner at Karachi and Director for Trade in Pakistan Sarah Mooney has said that over 55 million pounds, pledged by the United Kingdom at the previous UN Climate Change Conference of the Parties (COP26) to partner with Pakistan to fight climate change, can now be accessed in terms of building flood-hit infrastructure and rehabilitation of people in Sindh and Balochistan.

Talking to Dawn on the eve of COP27, she spoke at length about the relief efforts carried out by the UK during floods and said that the focus was now on rebuilding a better infrastructure.

For that purpose, she said, the British High Commission in Pakistan is meeting with different actors in terms of NGOs, scientists, engineers, government, international actors in order to work together to design, finance and produce a more sustainable infrastructure across Sindh particularly but also Balochistan and Punjab, as they also had representatives from those provinces.

'Another area, which I think is quite personal to the moment as we move into COP27, is that the UK had pledged over APS55 million to partner with Pakistan to fight climate change, manage water more sustainably and unlock climate investment in November 2021 during the COP26 Conference in Glasgow,' she told Dawn.

'I do think that the money can be accessed in terms of building infrastructure and rehabilitation of Sindh and Balochistan. And that's something we need to sit down and think about as we look at the financing of redevelopment,' she said.

The diplomat herself arrived in Pakistan in the beginning of August when the scale of the flooding was just becoming apparent.

'We have provided about APS26.5m worth of aid, which is also being matched by a considerable sum from our Disaster Emergency Committee [DEC] where the people within the UK, including our...