US Ambassador David Hale PHOTO: FILE
US Ambassador David Hale said this while addressing opening ceremony of a conference on “Water-Energy-Food Security Nexus” on Tuesday at National University of Sciences and Technology (NUST).
Federal Minister for Planning and Development Ahsan Iqbal and NUST Rector Engineer Muhammad Asghar also spoke on the occasion and highlighted forthcoming challenges in the areas of water, energy and food security.
The conference was designed to bring together experts to discuss impact of climate change, population growth, economic development and increased consumption of water, energy, and food security throughout the world, and to develop possible solutions for some of these issues.
“Water, energy, and food -- three basic components of life-complex processes are at work to bring us those essential elements, and demographics and climate change are straining those processes,” the ambassador said.
“Together we need to generate new ideas, new partnerships and innovative solutions to this challenge,” he added.
The two-day conference brought together policy experts, scientists and members of private sector businesses to discuss links between water, energy and agriculture. Participants also considered solutions on how to develop clear government policies and effective use of resources to ensure food, water and energy security.
The conference highlighted continued cooperation between both nations in key areas of water, energy and food security discussed during the meeting of President Barack Obama and Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif in October 2015, Hale said.
The US and Pakistan had a long history of energy cooperation and continued to work together to help attract private sector investments in natural gas and clean energy sources such as solar, wind, geo-thermal and hydro, he added.
Both the nations pressed for an ambitious agreement on climate change at the Conference of Parties 21 in Paris in December last year, and continue to work together on such issues through the Clean Energy Partnership and the Strategic Dialogue, the federal minister said.
The NUST rector also highlighted importance of the conference and said such events provide opportunity to experts for discussing forthcoming challenges and their solutions.
“The importance of cooperation across borders to address global issues such as water and food security cannot be understated,” Asghar said.
Published in The Express Tribune, February 17th, 2016.
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