Pakistan has called for urgent delivery of climate finance and greater international cooperation for the equitable and sustainable management of shared water resources.

Speaking at the general debate of the UN General Assembly's Second Committee, Pakistan's Deputy Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Ambassador Usman Jadoon, said climate justice and respect for international law must remain central to global development efforts.

He said developing countries have been facing severe development challenges due to the combined impact of conflicts, climate change, the COVID-19 pandemic and food, fuel and financial crises.

On climate action, Usman Jadoon called for a credible pathway to mobilise 300 billion US dollars in climate finance, including through grants and concessional finance, along with a tripling of adaptation finance and adequate capitalisation of the Loss and Damage Fund.

He expressed Pakistan's support for Turkiye and Australia in their efforts to make COP31 a "COP of delivery".

Highlighting the critical importance of water security, he called for the 2026 and 2028 UN Water Conferences to address the full spectrum of water-related challenges, particularly cooperation over shared water resources. He underscored the need to respect international law and uphold the sanctity of existing treaties governing transboundary waters.

The Ambassador also stressed the need to address the estimated four trillion US dollars annual SDG financing gap.

He called for strengthening domestic resource mobilisation in developing countries, scaling up predictable international public finance, reforming the international debt architecture and revitalising the multilateral trading system.

He also called for more equitable international tax arrangements, honouring the 0.7 per cent ODA commitment, and increasing multilateral development bank (MDB) lending capacity while improving lending terms and reducing borrowing costs.

On debt, Usman Jadoon reaffirmed Pakistan's support for the Borrowers' Platform and called for greater representation of developing countries in the international financial architecture. He further called for restoring trade as an engine of development through revitalisation of the WTO's dispute settlement mechanism, preservation of special and differential treatment, progress on agriculture and an end to unilateral trade-restrictive measures.

On emerging technologies, Ambassador Usman Jadoon warned that the AI divide could become the new face of the development divide. He called for greater attention to the development dimension of AI governance, including AI capacity-building and progress towards establishing a Global Fund for AI.