ISLAMABAD, Oct 25 (APP):Chief Executive Officer of the National Disaster Risk Management Fund (NDRMF) Amir Khan Goraya on Sunday said Pakistan will take a confident, partnership-driven message to COP31 in Türkiye, backed by the fund’s record of channelling money into pre-disaster resilience.
The NDRMF CEO, in an exclusive interview with APP, said Pakistan has made itself well heard internationally and has been “punching above its weight”.
He said Pakistan would leverage its close relations with host country Türkiye and other friendly states, while NDRMF would continue projecting the country’s voice through the Pakistan Pavilion. The fund, he added, would also deepen engagement with international financial institutions and UN agencies, and will provide technical input to panels and forums during the conference.
Goraya described NDRMF as a pioneer institution in the developing world, built in partnership between the government and international institutions to finance risk reduction. He said NDRMF is evolving into a key adviser to line ministries on policy actions Pakistan has committed to with international partners.
Goraya said NDRMF’s mandate is preparedness, resilience and risk financing before the disaster. “We see spending on resilience as an investment and not as a cost,” he said.
He said the fund does not itself decide which communities are vulnerable. It relies on government data, passed down through national, provincial and district authorities, and complements it with the work of accredited civil society organisations.
“Our success will be if we become the financing intermediary between the funding sources, implementers and the most vulnerable populations” he said.
Asked how the fund is protecting its pipeline amid global economic stress following the Middle East crisis, Goraya said NDRMF is working with multilateral and bilateral partners, offering them a fast and efficient vehicle to take resilience money where it is needed. He said its audit, governance and control framework meets donor requirements, and that it has previously received support from France, the United Kingdom, Norway, the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank.
On the global shift from grants to loans, he said NDRMF has never relied on only one source of funding and has worked to influence partners’ thinking on financing modalities. He said shrinking grants are a long-anticipated global trend, not a recent shock, and that Pakistan has mitigated that challenge effectively by forging mutually beneficial global partnerships.
Goraya offered a more nuanced view of the argument that climate finance fails to reach the vulnerable. He said the first question is how much climate finance has Pakistan has received so far, since it is only a fraction of what is needed. Climate financiers, he added, must also build and disseminate the narrative that effects of disasters in vulnerable countries do not stay there alone, and have global consequences.
Source: APP (Associated Press of Pakistan)
