UN urges aid for food-hit Pakistan
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The plenary session of the UN General Assembly (GA) on Friday entered its second day, calling for international solidarity in mobilizing support and funding for flood-hit Pakistan.
Brazil, China, France, India, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Sierra Leone, Spain on Friday are among some 30 countries to take the floor at the plenary session, which opened in New York on Thursday afternoon.
Unanimously adopted at the start of the high-level meeting, a resolution stressed the "urgency of undertaking a massive rescue and relief operation and supporting the efforts for rehabilitation and reconstruction."
The resolution "expresses full solidarity and sympathy with the people of Pakistan affected by the floods."
It also called on the international community to "extend full support and assistance to the government of Pakistan in its efforts to mitigate the adverse impacts of the floods and to meet the medium- and long-term rehabilitation and reconstruction needs. "
A total of some 60 high-level officials are expected to take the floor at the two-day General Assembly meeting on the widespread destruction by the monsoon floods. Speakers on Thursday included Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi and U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
"Make no mistake: this is a global disaster, a global challenge, " UN Secretary-general Ban Ki-moon told the 192-member body on Thursday. "It is one of the greatest tests of global solidarity in our times."
Last week, the UN launched an appeal for 460 million U.S. dollars to provide emergency assistance for those most vulnerable.
According to UN estimates, 54.4 million people have been affected by the floods -- the worst in over a century.
