NEW YORK: Pakistan’s Ambassador to the United Nations Maleeha Lodhi assured the United Nations that Pakistan would live up to its responsibility as one of the world’s top troop contributing countries and will fulfill its obligations in this regard.
Speaking in the follow up of the Leaders Peacekeeping Summit and a Preview of the London Ministerial Level meeting scheduled in September Ambassador Lodhi said that Pakistan’s commitment to UN peacekeeping remains “strong, consistent and unstinting”.
“Our peacekeepers have an exemplary track record of delivering in testing circumstances and in implementing and fulfilling demanding UN mandates with professionalism and distinction”, she said.
Pakistan was a co-host for the two summits of world leaders, held in 2015 and 2016, at the United Nations to strengthen and modernize peacekeeping. It aimed to garner commitments to boost the capacity and capabilities of UN peacekeeping and to allow the world body to deploy forces more rapidly if a new operation was created. The other co-hosts included the US, Bangladesh, Ethiopia, Indonesia, Japan, the Netherlands, Rwanda and Uruguay.
Dr. Lodhi recalled that as a co-host of the Leaders Summit on Peacekeeping last September, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif announced additional pledges, including an Infantry Battalion; lTransport, Engineering and Signal companies; additional utility helicopters; a Level-II and a Level-III Hospital for deployment in future UN peacekeeping missions.
Expressing support to the initiative taken by the UK for a Ministerial level meeting, Ambassador Lodhi confirmed that Pakistan’s Minister of Defence would attend the meeting.
The Ministerial level meeting will be held in London in September to follow up on the pledges made at the Leaders Summit.
The Pakistani envoy recommended that the UN support mechanism should now be geared up for speedy deployment of selected units to UN Missions. “This is our collective endeavor and we all need to take steps to make it a success”, she added.
Ambassador Lodhi told the meeting about the successful visit of the Department of Peacekeeping Operations to Pakistan by an Assessment and Advisory delegation. Its purpose was to assess the readiness of troops for deployment, and their conformity to the pledges made by Pakistan.
She assured the UN of Pakistan’s continued commitment and resolve to live up to its responsibility as a major troop contributor and to fulfill all obligations in this regard. “We stand ready to deliver on the pledges made at the Leaders Summit”, she concluded.
