ISLAMABAD: A Pakistani diplomat is among the eight new members appointed by UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to the Advisory Group of the Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF).

Pakistan’s Qazi Shaukat Fareed is currently the Permanent Observer for the Parliamentary Assembly of the Mediterranean to the United Nations and UN System.

The other new advisory group members are: Ms Beth Delaney, Ambassador and Deputy Permanent Representative of Australia to UN; Ms Sophie De Smedt, Ambassador and Permanent Representative of Belgium to UN; Ms Lauratuulia Lehtinen, Deputy Director General in the Department for Development Policy at Finland’s Ministry for Foreign Affairs; Ms Michelle Winthrop, Humanitarian Director at Irish Department of Foreign Affairs; Jongin Bae, Ambassador and Deputy Permanent Representative of the Republic of Korea to UN; Ryan Shrum, Senior Bureau Official for Disaster and Humanitarian Response at the US Department of State; and Dr Rurik Marsden, Head of Humanitarian Policy and Programmes in the Humanitarian Directorate of the UK’s Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office.

Published in Dawn, October 2nd, 2026