State Secretary attends UN meeting on emergency relief to Pakistan

State Secretary for International Development Anne Stenhammer will attend a meeting on the earthquake disaster in South Asia in Geneva on Wednesday 26 October.

The meeting will be chaired by UN Emergency Relief Coordinator Jan Egeland. UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan will make the opening speech. The next speaker will be the Vice Prime Minister of Pakistan.

State Secretary Stenhammer will address the meeting on behalf of Norway. About 300 participants have registered for the meeting. Sixteen states will be represented at political level, including India, the USA, the UK and Sweden.

Norway has allocated NOK 180 million for the victims of the earthquake disaster in Pakistan. This week Minister of International Development Erik Solheim is visiting Muzaffarabad in Pakistan-administered Kashmir. The visit includes a meeting with President Pervez Musharraf in the capital Islamabad.

More information about the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).

Contact person in Geneva: May-Elin Stener, tel. +47 95 86 47 01

Contact person in Pakistan: Berit Enge, tel +47 91 68 30 80