Officials from some 40 countries as well as private donors and international financial institutions gathered at a meeting in Geneva as Islamabad sought funds to cover around half of a recovery bill amounting to $16.3 billion.
The meeting’s co-hosts, the United Nations and Pakistan’s government, said more than $9 billion had been pledged from bilateral and multilateral partners.
Among the donors were the Islamic Development Bank ($4.2 billion), the World Bank ($2 billion), Saudi Arabia ($1 billion), as well as the European Union and China, Pakistan Information Minister Marriyum Aurangzeb said.
“Today has truly been a day which gives us great hope,” said Hina Rabbani Khar, Pakistan’s minister of state for foreign affairs.
Millions of homes, tens of thousands of schools as well as thousands of kilometers of roads and railways still need to be rebuilt, the UN says.