ISLAMABAD: President Asif Ali Zardari reiterated Pakistan’s commitment to promoting the development of a safe, sustainable, efficient and environment-friendly transportation system in the country.

The president, addressing the Global Sustainable Transport Forum-2024, through a video message, being held in Beijing from September 25-26, 2024, said that Pakistan would work closely with China to achieve the goals of sustainable development to usher in an era of peace and prosperity.

He emphasized that the world needed resilient infrastructure for efficient, environment-friendly and low-carbon transport solutions to fulfill the needs of the people.

He appreciated China’s lead role in promoting and advancing the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), particularly recognizing the critical importance of the transport sector.

Highlighting the initiatives taken by the government, President Zardari apprised the Forum that Pakistan had introduced pink buses specifically for women to provide a safe, comfortable and accessible mode of public transportation.

He underlined that rural accessibility to all-weather roads in Pakistan witnessed significant improvement, reaching 92%. Improved rural accessibility could potentially contribute to promoting sustainable development as well as providing essential services to the rural population, he added.

The president apprised the participants that Pakistan was facing the challenges of sustainable maintenance of its infrastructure and the effects of climate change.

He highlighted that over the last five years, devastating floods, heavy rainfall and extreme weather conditions had severely damaged Pakistan’s transport infrastructure including roads, rails, bridges and other critical transport networks that isolated millions of people, particularly in rural areas.

President Zardari stated that Pakistan deeply valued China’s role in promoting sustainable development and its contribution to regional and global economic prosperity.

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He said that Pakistan extended its support for the development of sustainable transport cooperation among the transport authorities of the member states and appreciated the initiatives taken by China under the leadership of President Xi Jinping.