On UNGA sidelines: Pakistan to host first-ever young FMs’ conference

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan will host the first-ever young Foreign Ministers conference on the sidelines of upcoming United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) 77th summit.

The sources told ‘The News’ that the conference will discuss the problems being confronted by the world and the role of young generation to thwart the challenges.

The agenda of the conference that would take place a day after the 33rd birthday of Foreign Minister Bilawal and a day before the 72nd birthday of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif will be presented in the country’s mission to be hosted by Pakistan’s permanent representative (PR) for the UNGA Munir Akram.

The criteria to be a young Foreign Minister hasn’t been given, while Munir Akram is the eldest PR in the world body.

The sources said that Federal Minister for Climate Change Sherry Rehman will also be at the UN headquarters with Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari.

State Minister Hina Rabbani Khar and Foreign Secretary Sohail Mahmood are travelling to New York to become members of the prime minister entourage.

Meanwhile, Pakistan has dropped the idea of holding donors conference for the victims of

ongoing floods in the country on the sidelines of the UNGA summit commencing later this week since

the world body’s Secretary-General Antonio Guterres is hopeful that the country would get an encouraging response on account of the UN’s flash appeal for $160 million to cope with the devastation which has so far claimed more than 1,500 lives.