H.E. Ambassador Janis Bjørn Kanavin attended the Donor Conference in Islamabad 19th November 2005 on Norway's behalf, and held this speech:
21/11/2005 ::
"The Government of Norway has i.a. through the recent visit to Pakistan of the Minister for International Development, expressed our deepest sympathies with the people and Government of Pakistan after the October 8th earthquake. Norwegian Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg will add his voice when he arrives here in two weeks time. This unique natural disaster presents tremendous needs both of humanitarian and reconstruction character.
The Government of Pakisan and cooperating agencies have our full support in seeing the relief effort and the reconstruction efforts as two aspects of the same seamless effort for recovery and growth. This response requires of course full Pakistani commitment, but also international commitment. It is vital that the commitments we make are honoured and applied in full.
Norway has so far spent more than USD 35 million on emergency relief after the earthquake in Pakistan. People to people aid is also significant, and adds to this (Telenor in Pakistan and Norway illustrates this commitment by donating US $ 1 million in cash and several tons of relief goods in kind). It is the intent of my Government to propose to Parliament next week to more than double this support to early relief activities, in response i.a. to the UN appeals. We thus commit more than USD 70 million as total relief grant to Pakistan through UN, Red Cross and Red Crescent, and other agencies’ and organisations’efforts in the field.
Effective and efficient coordination of the relief work at every level and every stage is vital, and we recognise the efforts of UN-OCHA and the Government of Paksitan in this regard. Non-governmental organizations play a vital role in the field, but they need to play their part in a coordinated way.
The Government of Norway will come back to the question of grants specifically towards reconstruction and rehabilitation. My Government is also urgently studying and considering a request from Pakistan to conduct a debt swap in order to release funds for reconstruction.
Norway will also remain a partner with Pakistan for regular development cooperation. It is vitally important that the recovery after the earthquake does not come at the expense of Paksitan’s development efforts at reaching the Millennium Development Goals. The efforts of Pakistan over the recent years to increase the fiscal space are also at risk, and it is therefore important for the international community to be as supportive as possible not only in making funding available but also in making it free. Transparency and accountability reinforce the commitment of the Government of Pakistan to avoid corruption at all cost.
We welcome the emphasis that President Musharraf places on the importance of taking local needs as the point of departure for reconstruction. Elected local bodies have a decisive role to play in this regard. Taking the victims’ views into account is a sine qua non in such circumstances, and I would be amiss if I did not point to the vital participation of women in this process and the particular needs of children in the recovery process.
Finally, let me point to the special challenge faced by all those who lost limbs or became infirm in other ways; enabling them – as well as all affected people – to face a meaningful future can illustrate the very essence of the task before us at this Conference today."