Joint efforts stressed against coronavirus

Islamabad : As Pakistan sees a surge in cornavirus cases, Germany is offering it humanitarian assistance at both multilateral and bilateral levels.

Most of such financial support comes through multilateral institutions like the World Bank or Asian Development Bank.

However, in the wake of the COVID-19 crisis funds for bilateral projects in Pakistan have been partially reallocated – especially in the field of humanitarian aid.

According to German Ambassador Bernhard Schlagheck, his government financially supports humanitarian organizations like Malteser International or the German Red Cross which is closely cooperating with the Pakistan Red Crescent Society to provide the Pakistani people with access to emergency food assistance, hygiene knowledge and material as well as preventive health care services, particularly in Sindh.

"We are also supporting Pakistani organizations to offer food rations and hygiene kits to vulnerable parts of the Pakistani population as well as education about physical and mental health."

The ambassador said the world was united in the face of the necessity to put a halt to the spread of COVID-19. "Only in a spirit of solidarity and cooperation will we be able to address this common challenge. Many Pakistani families are hit hard by the loss of loved ones due to the pandemic," he said.

The envoy said the joint fight against the novel virus and its socioeconomic consequences is yet another – a new – facet of the many-sided trustful cooperation between Germany and Pakistan.

"Let us try together to overcome economic hardships and bring relief to the vulnerable. With German financial support in the framework of multilateral organisations as well as bilateral support to fight COVID-19 in Pakistan, Germany would like to underline that it stands side by side with the Pakistani people in these trying times,” he said.