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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 LeaderCountry
Prime Minister Gaston BrowneAntigua and Barbuda
President Alberto FernandezArgentina
Prime Minister Scott MorrisonAustralia
Prime Minister Sheikh HasinaBangladesh
Prime Minister Lotay TsheringBhutan
President Jair BolsonaroBrazil
Prime Minister Justin TrudeauCanada
President Sebastián PiñeraChile
President Xi JinpingPeople’s Republic of China
President Iván Duque MárquezColombia
President Félix TshisekediThe Democratic Republic of the Congo
Prime Minister Mette FrederiksenDenmark
President Ursula von der LeyenEuropean Commission
Prime Minister Mette FrederiksenDenmark
President Nguyễn Phú TrọngVietnam
Prime Minister Boris JohnsonUnited Kingdom
President Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al NahyanUnited Arab Emirates
President Recep Tayyip ErdoğanTurkey
Prime Minister Pedro SánchezSpain
President Matamela Cyril RamaphosaSouth Africa
Prime Minister Lee Hsien LoongSingapore
King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al SaudKingdom of Saudi Arabia
President Vladimir PutinThe Russian Federation
President Moon Jae-inRepublic of Korea
President Andrzej DudaPoland
President Andrés Manuel López Obrador Mexico
Prime Minister Jacinda ArdernNew Zealand
President Muhammadu BuhariNigeria
Prime Minister Erna SolbergNorway
President David KabuaRepublic of the Marshall Islands
President Uhuru KenyattaKenya
Prime Minister Yoshihide SugaJapan
Prime Minister Andrew HolnessJamaica
Prime Minister Mario DraghiItaly
Prime Minister Benjamin NetanyahuIsrael
President Joko WidodoIndonesia
Prime Minister Narendra ModiIndia
Chancellor Angela MerkelGermany
President Ali Bongo OndimbaGabon
President Emmanuel MacronFrance
President Charles MichelEuropean Council

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