Kevin Rudd, in his first official trip as Australia’s new minister of foreign affairs, visited Pakistan on Wednesday (Sept. 15) to see the devastation caused by recent floods, as well as international relief efforts.
The former prime minister flew to the flood-ravaged Asian country a day after he assumed his new position under the government of Prime Minister Julia Gillard, who ousted him in an inter-party vote earlier this year, the Canadian Press reports.
Australia has contributed some 35 million Australian dollars (USD33 million) to the flood relief effort, Rudd shared before his trip. He remarked that the situation in Pakistan could be further aggravated by a massive disease outbreak and public health crisis, which the U.N. and its partners have been scrambling to prevent.
Rudd said he plans to seek increased international support for the country at a U.N. general assembly in New York, where he will head to after his trip to Pakistan.
In New York, Rudd will represent Gillard at the U.N. General Assembly and other U.N. meetings. He will also visit Washingto to meet with U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and National Security Adviser Gen. James Jones regarding the international military mission in Afghanistan.
