**Updated to add video** In a totally Keatsian aside, look at those eyes!
Remarks at the UN High-Level Ministerial Meeting on the Flood Emergency in Pakistan
Hillary Rodham Clinton
Secretary of StateUnited NationsNew York, NYSeptember 19, 2010
SECRETARY CLINTON: Thank you very much, Secretary General, and I want to thank you and Foreign Minister Qureshi for convening this meeting, and I especially want to acknowledge and thank General Nadeem, who gave us an excellent overview.
There is clearly a great deal of work still ahead of the international community. The United States has provided approximately $345 million in governmental assistance, which is about double of where we were when we gathered here one month ago. Details will be provided by USAID Administrator Shah. And this money has gone to relief and early recovery efforts, along with in-kind contributions and the very important rescue work that our American military has done in rescuing 15,000 people and providing 7 million pounds of relief supplies.
We’ve also been encouraged by the response from the private sector, particularly from concerned individuals who have contributed to the Pakistan Relief Fund, which I launched here a month ago. And we are taking that money, approximately $2 million that has been matched by Proctor & Gamble, to spend it on water purification kits in coordination with General Nadeem and the Disaster Management Authority.
The widespread destruction is going to require so much more from each of us, and the upcoming meetings of the Friends of Democratic Pakistan in Brussels in October and the Pakistan Development Forum in Islamabad in November will help to further refine what it is we are committing and make sure that we deliver on those commitments. The World Bank and the Asian Development Bank will make a vital contribution to that effort with the Damage and Needs Assessment, which they are preparing in partnership with the Government of Pakistan.
As we take these steps, we will follow Pakistan’s lead. We look to the Pakistani Government to help shape a strategy that reflects the needs of the Pakistani people. And we are encouraged by the efforts that Pakistan itself is making to institute the economic and tax reforms that will help pave the way towards self-sufficiency. The international community will support Pakistan’s efforts, yet we know it has to be a partnership. And the Government of Pakistan is working to raise domestic revenues and to implement new energy policies which we strongly support, along with establishing a structure to bring transparency, oversight, and accountability to the reconstruction.
The floods that have devastated Pakistan have taken weeks and have caused so much terrible damage, but the recovery will take much longer than that. And as the waters recede, the people of Pakistan must know that they will not be alone. They can count on my country and on the international community to stand with them, but we must better coordinate our efforts, we must be very mindful of what Pakistan tells us its needs are, we must make sure we are well organized in delivering the aid that we are gathering here today and in days and weeks ahead.
But I think that the quick action that you, Mr. Secretary General, along with Pakistan and so many of us here have taken, will give us a fighting chance to give the people of Pakistan what they deserve to have. Thank you.
