International donors pledge over $9bn flood-hit Pakistan

Global donors have pledged more than $9 billion to help Pakistan recover from the devastating floods that hit the country last year.

It amounts to more than half of the estimated $16.3bn Pakistan needs to recover from the natural disaster.

Last year's floods killed more than 1,700 people, displaced eight million more and destroyed infrastructure.

The pledges come as the South Asian nation continues negotiations over the next instalment of an international bailout.

"Today has truly been a day which gives us great hope," Hina Rabbani Khar, Pakistan's minister of state for foreign affairs said at a climate conference held with the United Nations (UN) in Geneva.

"I think the message from the world is clear: the world will stand by those who go through any national calamity," she added.

The Islamic Development Bank (IDB), the World Bank and Saudi Arabia were some of the biggest donors.

The European Union (EU), the US, China and France also made contributions.

It came after UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres called for major investments to help Pakistan recover from what he called a "climate disaster of monumental scale".