Pakistan’s exclusion from a virtual summit on climate change hosted by US President Joe Biden has surprised the civil society activists of the country.
Biden has invited 40 world leaders to his government’s first climate change summit scheduled for 22 and 23 April. Pakistan’s exclusion is surprising as it is the fifth most vulnerable country to climate change, and the issue has been one of the key areas of the focus of the incumbent government.
Senior journalist Kamran Yousaf mused that the decision is not surprising considering a recent statement of the former US Ambassador to Pakistan, Cameron Munter, who said, “Pakistan has lost a great deal of importance in the minds of the leadership in Washington”.
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The US-based expert on South Asian affairs, Michael Kugelman, tweeted,
Many in Pakistan are unhappy Imran Khan isn’t on the list of invitees. It appears the main criteria for being invited are (1) close partner of the US or (2) a major polluter or (3) highly vulnerable to climate change or (4) some combo of 1,2,3. Pakistan certainly qualifies for (3).
Another tweet by Kugenman read:
I don’t think it’s a deliberate snub. Nor do I think it is some type of attempt to play hardball to get Pakistan to cooperate more with the US in the Afghan peace process, as some have suggested. It’s more an issue of how the US views Pakistan and how it frames US-Pak relations.
According to the Special Assistant to the Prime Minister, Malik Amin Aslam, the countries invited to the summit can be categorized into two groups and added that Pakistan does not fit into either one. However, he did not define the two groups.
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The Spokesperson for the Foreign Office stated that the summit aims to bring together the heads of state responsible for approximately 80 percent of global emissions and GDP. He added that “Pakistan, despite being among the top ten countries affected by climate change, is one of the lowest emitters, with less than one percent of the global emissions”.
The leaders invited to participate in the summit are:
| World Leader | Country |
| Prime Minister Gaston Browne | Antigua and Barbuda |
| President Alberto Fernandez | Argentina |
| Prime Minister Scott Morrison | Australia |
| Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina | Bangladesh |
| Prime Minister Lotay Tshering | Bhutan |
| President Jair Bolsonaro | Brazil |
| Prime Minister Justin Trudeau | Canada |
| President Sebastián Piñera | Chile |
| President Xi Jinping | People’s Republic of China |
| President Iván Duque Márquez | Colombia |
| President Félix Tshisekedi | The Democratic Republic of the Congo |
| Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen | Denmark |
| President Ursula von der Leyen | European Commission |
| Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen | Denmark |
| President Nguyễn Phú Trọng | Vietnam |
| Prime Minister Boris Johnson | United Kingdom |
| President Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan | United Arab Emirates |
| President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan | Turkey |
| Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez | Spain |
| President Matamela Cyril Ramaphosa | South Africa |
| Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong | Singapore |
| King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud | Kingdom of Saudi Arabia |
| President Vladimir Putin | The Russian Federation |
| President Moon Jae-in | Republic of Korea |
| President Andrzej Duda | Poland |
| President Andrés Manuel López Obrador | Mexico |
| Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern | New Zealand |
| President Muhammadu Buhari | Nigeria |
| Prime Minister Erna Solberg | Norway |
| President David Kabua | Republic of the Marshall Islands |
| President Uhuru Kenyatta | Kenya |
| Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga | Japan |
| Prime Minister Andrew Holness | Jamaica |
| Prime Minister Mario Draghi | Italy |
| Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu | Israel |
| President Joko Widodo | Indonesia |
| Prime Minister Narendra Modi | India |
| Chancellor Angela Merkel | Germany |
| President Ali Bongo Ondimba | Gabon |
| President Emmanuel Macron | France |
| President Charles Michel | European Council |
Denmark called twice …
Pakistan should record contempt in UN for U.S insolence in politicizing a global issue and trying to influence global climate change initiative inverse.