ISLAMABAD - Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif Wednesday termed the $9.7 billion pledges by the international community at the Geneva conference as a “vote of confidence” on the Pakistani nation and assured that the funds would be spent transparently and audited through the third party. “This is the manifestation of trust and dignity to the government and the people of Pakistan by the world nations. They would not have pledged around $10 billion of their taxpayers’ money if they had any apprehensions of any embezzlement in funds as was being propagated by our political adversaries,” the prime minister told a news conference on his return from Geneva where he co-hosted the International Conference on Climate Resilient Pakistan with United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres. Giving a breakup of the pledged money, PM Shehbaz said the Islamic Development Bank made the biggest pledge of $4.2 billion followed by $2 billion by the World Bank, $1 billion each by Saudi Arabia and AIIB (Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank), $500 million by the Asian Development Bank, $100 million each by China and the United States, Euro 380 million by France, Euro 84 million by Germany and $25 million by Qatar, besides others. The prime minister congratulated the whole nation as well as the coalition government for the unexpected response by the international community as he said the pledges were far above their expectations. He said following the pledges by the international community, it was the government of Pakistan’s responsibility to ensure successful and transparent execution of the projects to meet the needs of flood survivors and the world’s expectations. Appreciating the efforts by ministers for foreign affairs, climate change, finance, information and others, he said the federal secretaries had prepared an efficient roadmap for the reconstruction and rehabilitation of the flood victims. The prime minister said despite the worst division created by the opposition in society, the representatives of federal and provincial governments attended the conference and presented their case to the international community, which was also a display of the nation’s trust in the coalition government. He specially thanked the UN Secretary-General for supporting Pakistan in its endeavours of building back after it was hit by the worst floods in history. He said as the incumbent government was a combination of youth and experience, it was a must to put in all the efforts to accomplish the objectives of reconstruction and rehabilitation. The prime minister also thanked the Saudi leadership for hinting at enhancing the safe deposit to $5 billion and investment to $10 billion. To a question, Prime Minister Shehbaz said the country had sufficient stock of wheat, however, it was upon the provincial governments to release the commodity to the flour mills. Unfortunately, the provinces were not releasing the required quantity of wheat, he added, assuring that the federal government would use its powers to provide relief to the masses. He told the media that the government was totally aware of the changing global circumstances and that the reconstruction projects would be made resilient using modern technology. The government would spare no effort to achieve the objective and the government’s commitment for transparency through a third-party validation would send a strong message to the donors, he added. Asked about the distribution mechanism of funds, the prime minister said the federating units would get funds considering the flood-caused losses as Sindh suffered the most followed by Balochistan, South Punjab districts, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and a small area in Gilgit-Baltistan. He said the federal government had already transparently distributed around Rs 90 billion among 2.7 million households through the Benazir Income Support Programme. Regarding his upcoming visit to the United Arab Emirates, the prime minister said Pakistan desired to enhance its trade and investment relationship with the friendly country. Responding to a question about the security situation in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, PM Shehbaz mentioned the National Security Council meeting which discussed the situation in detail and resolved to eliminate the scourge. However, he said the provincial government was responsible to strengthen its counterterrorism department to deal with the militancy. The prime minister was accompanied by Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, Climate Change Minister Sherry Rehman, Finance Minister Ishaq Dar, Communications Minister Maulana Asad Mahmood, National Food Security Minister Tariq Bashir Cheema, and Awami National Party leader Mian Iftikhar Hussain. In his remarks, Bilawal Bhutto said the Geneva conference was a manifestation of the prime minister’s successful foreign policy as it had not only achieved the target of $8 billion pledges but also helped Pakistan gain the international community’s support to bust a myth that Pakistan stood isolated in the world. He said across the geo-political divide, the international community supported Pakistan, including the European Union which faced unnecessary criticism by the previous government. Moreover, the foreign minister said, the conference would also put to rest the baseless propaganda about Pakistan’s economic situation. He appealed to the people to keep extending humanitarian assistance as the flood victims were still facing difficulties and hardships, and the situation was feared to further aggravate due to the ongoing cold spell. PM thanks Saudi crown prince Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Wednesday expressed gratitude to Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia Prince Mohammed Bin Salman on announcement of $1 billion at climate conference held in Geneva. “Pakistan sincerely thanks Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman for Saudi Arabia’s generous announcement of $1 billion at the Resilient Pakistan Conference,” he said in a tweet. The prime minister said, “We are immensely grateful for his decision to consider increasing Saudi investment up to $10 billion and deposits with State Bank of Pakistan to $5 billion,” he said. In another tweet, Shehbaz Sharif also thanked President World Bank David Malpass for pledging $2 billion for the postflood recovery, reconstruction and rehabilitation at Resilient Pakistan Conference in Geneva. He mentioned that the World Bank is a longtime development partner of Pakistan. Earlier in a tweet, the prime minister expressed gratitude to United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres for his unwavering support to Pakistan’s flood victims and raising his voice for recovery and reconstruction in the wake of floods. Shehbaz Sharif mentioned that the UN Secretary-General played a pivotal role in making Resilient Pakistan Conference a resounding success. Over $8.7b pledged at Geneva moot are loans, clarifies Dar Meanwhile, Finance Minister Ishaq Dar revealed on Wednesday that almost 90 per cent of pledges made by the international community at a donors’ conference in Geneva for floodhit Pakistan were project loans that will be rolled out over the next three years. During a press conference alongside Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and other members of the federal cabinet, Dar said that$8.7bn of the pledges were loans. He did not reveal what the terms of these loans were. However, the prime minister said “we expect the terms to be lenient”. Dar highlighted that project loan financing had already crossed $8bn, which included commitments from the Islamic Development Bank, the Asian Development Bank, the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, and the World Bank. Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has said sufficient reserves of wheat are available in the country and no one will be allowed to create an artificial shortage of the commodity for illegal profiteering. He said this while chairing a high-level emergency meeting regarding the artificial shortage of wheat and flour in the country, hoarders and illegal profiteering. The prime minister advised the provinces to ensure timely supply of wheat to flour mills from their own and PASSCO stocks. He said the federating units should improve their governance for timely delivery of wheat and its flour. He said prices of forty-kilograms of wheat flour by around 1,000 rupees in last five days due to effective measures taken by the government, which is a welcoming sign. Shehbaz Sharif said the relevant federal and provincial institutions should take strict measures against hoarders of flour and wheat. He said strict action will be taken against those responsible for creating inflation through artificial shortage. The meeting reviewed the existing wheat stock in the country. It was told that sufficient stock of wheat is available in the country and provinces are being asked to speed up the delivery of wheat from the PASSCO reservoirs to the flour mills. Moreover, 1.3 million metric tons of imported wheat has also reached the country, while the similar amount of stock will arrive by the end of this month. It was said that the carry-forward stock of wheat will be 1.4 million metric tons by the end of this year’s season, which is enough to meet the Pakistan’s food needs before the advent of the next season.