By Ali Imran
ISLAMABAD: Special Assistant to the Prime Minister (SAPM) on Climate Change Malik Amin Aslam Tuesday said the recent visit of Saudi delegation for experience sharing and to formally kick start collaboration on Green Saudi Initiative would unveil a new era of ‘Green Diplomacy’ introduced by Prime Minister Imran Khan.
Addressing a high level media briefing flanked by head of the delegation Chief Executive Officer (CEO) National Centre for Vegetation Cover and Combating Desertification, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) Dr Khaled bin Abdullah Al-Abdulqadir, Amin Aslam welcomed the Saudi delegation and said the Pak-Saudi collaboration would be opening a new chapter of cordial ties between the two brotherly countries.
“This is the new Pakistan envisioned by the Prime Minister that has emerged during the times of COVID-19 pandemic with 5.37 percent GDP growth. The Economist has ranked Pakistan among top three countries with growing economy during the pandemic,” the SAPM noted.
In recognition to the successful nature conservation and ecosystem restoration efforts under the Ten Billion Tree Tsunami Plantation project of the country, he said Pakistan was made Asia Pacific Forestry Champion by the UNEP.
“Pakistan has been declared a model of forestry to be replicated by Asia,” Amin informed. The SAPM mentioned that the Saudi delegation has arrived to learn from Pakistan’s experience in forestry, adding, “They will visit our national parks, mangroves, and Ten Billion plantation sites across the country.”
On this occasion, the SAPM offered the head of Saudi delegation that Pakistan wanted to offer its experience in forestry to chip-in the massive Saudi Green Initiative, whereas this green collaboration between both the countries was backed by strong green leaderships and visions of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman and Prime Minister Imran Khan.
Speaking on the occasion, head of Saudi delegation Dr Khalid bin Abdullah said that he was glad to be in Pakistan on visit to have experience sharing on Pakistan’s green Initiatives.
He informed that the KSA has launched a target of 10 billion trees in the Kingdom and 40 billion for Middle East under the Saudi Green Initiative. “All these initiatives are for great collaboration between KSA and Pakistan. Pakistan’s green Initiatives are globally praised and we want to see it on ground and visit the plantation sites of Ten Billion Tree Tsunami Plantation project”, he expressed.
He mentioned that the KSA has great vision to enhance its national parks and drive environmental conservation for sustainable human existence. “We have opened doors for entire global community to collaborate in 40 billion trees plantation across the Middle East,” he said.
Dr Khalid said the focus of plantation would be indigenous species that were climate adaptable as KSA has 2,600 native species of such trees. Responding to various media queries, the SAPM said that the visit was part of the technical group created after the memorandum of understanding (MoU) inked last year in KSA for collaboration under Saudi Green Initiative.
“The KSA delegation wants to study Pakistan’s on ground initiatives whereas in the next phase a joint working group will be created to spearhead the partnership under the Saudi Green Initiative”, he added. Later, the SAPM presented a souvenir of Billion Tree Honey to the Saudi delegation and said, “the Billion Tree Honey is sweet like the cordial brotherly Pak-Saudi relations.”
