World pledges $700 mn for Pakistan floods: US

WASHINGTON: The United States and other countries worldwide have now pledged a total of more than 700 million dollars towards flood relief in Pakistan, a senior US official said on Monday.

The United Nations General Assembly meeting last Thursday was "a real galvanizing moment in terms of contributions from other countries," said Dan Feldman, the deputy special representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan.

"By our count, we've seen over 700 million dollars pledged, including our own 150 million dollar commitment, from over 30 countries," Feldman told reporters without giving a country-by-country breakdown. He also said there are an "additional 300 million dollars in as yet undefined commitments" from a variety of countries.

He said there would be more multi-lateral meetings to coordinate the international aid response in the coming weeks, including a possible gathering on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in late September.

The Financial Tracking Service (FTS), a UN database that aims to track all donations, showed late Friday that 490.7 million dollars has come in for Pakistan's floods, with another 325 million dollars promised. Just over half came via the UN's emergency appeal fund while the rest came via bilateral aid, chiefly from Saudi Arabia, charities or private organizations and companies.

The United Nations launched a 460-million-dollar appeal for donations on August 11, saying this was the amount it estimated was needed by Pakistan to recover from the disaster.