President Joe Biden administration announced that the United States of America would be holding an online World Leaders’ Climate Summit in the month of April. The White House statement released on March 26th said “President Biden invited 40 world leaders to the Leaders Summit on Climate he will host on April 22 and 23. The virtual Leaders Summit will be live-streamed for public viewing”.
According to the statement by the White House, the key themes of the summit are set to revolve around the urgency – and the economic benefits – of stronger climate action.
In the list of invitees included several world leaders like PM Modi of India, PM Sheikh Hasina of Bangladesh, PM Lotay Tshering and others like President Putin of Russia and Xi Jinping from China.
Other countries whose premiers have been invited to the Climate Summit include Antigua and Barbuda, Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Republic of the Congo, Denmark, European Commission, France, Gabon, Germany, Indonesia, Israel, Jamaica, Japan, Mexico, Singapore amongst others.
However, in the list of 40 leaders, one name was conspicuously absent – that of Pakistan’s Prime Minister Imran Khan.
Interestingly, on January 20th, Imran Khan had taken to Twitter to congratulate President Joe Biden and hoped that USA and Pakistan ‘would work closely’ on a host of subjects, including ‘ countering climate change.
I congratulate President @JoeBiden on his inauguration. Look forward to working with @POTUS in building a stronger Pak-US partnership through trade & economic engagement, countering climate change, improving public health, combating corruption & promoting peace in region & beyond
— Imran Khan (@ImranKhanPTI) January 20, 2021
By the looks of it, USA is not taking up Imran Khan on the offer of ‘working closely’ to ‘counter climate change’.
Imran Khan, the Prime Minister of Pakistan, has been trying extremely hard to cosy up to the new Biden administration in the USA. Ambitiously, Khan had recently offered to mediate between China and the United States of America as well.
Addressing the Pakistan-Sri Lanka Trade and Investment Conference in Colombo in February, Khan said, “I also feel that and I want to believe that Pakistan can play its part in reducing the rising tensions between the United States and China. Some 50 years back it was Pakistan that opened up China for the United States. It was Pakistan that organised the meeting between Henry Kissinger and the Chinese. So I hope that again we can play our part.”
“We would rather be a country that brings other nations and humanity together, rather than becoming a country that is part of rivalries between two countries,” he had added.
While Pakistan is certainly an ally of the USA, much to the laters peril, it is evident that as a country, it is almost impossible to take Pakistan as seriously as the rest of the world.