Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, currently the Chair of the Climate Vulnerable Forum (CVF), will open the V20 Climate Vulnerable Finance Summit virtually on Thursday.
Heads of state and government, G20 and major International Financial Institutions, including Secretary General of the United Nations Antonio Guterres will join the summit scheduled to be held from 7.30-9.50pm.
Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal, Chair of the V20, made the announcement at a virtual briefing on Wednesday saying the Summit is poised to become one of the most crucial and eminent platforms for decisive climate action in the lead up to COP26 Glasgow.
Formed in 2015, the V20 Group of Finance Ministers is a dedicated cooperation initiative of economies systematically vulnerable to climate change.
At present, the Vulnerable 20 (V20) membership extends to 48 countries.
The V20 represents the economies of a collective 1.2 billion people with some of the consistently highest growth rates in the world yet facing existential threats from growing perils of climate change.
Collectively, V20 countries seek a transformational approach to global economic activities anchored in keeping global warming to below 1.5 degree Celsius while simultaneously maintaining the growth trajectory of the world economy.
The summit will feature heads of state/government from Climate Vulnerable Forum member countries including Colombia, Costa Rica, Ethiopia, and the Marshall Islands; V20 finance ministers from countries including Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Burkina Faso, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Ghana, Haiti, Ethiopia, Fiji, Grenada, Honduras, the Maldives, Marshall Islands, the Philippines, Timor-Leste, and Sri Lanka; along with Minister of Foreign Affairs and Minister of Environment, Forestry and Climate Change of Bangladesh.
In close cooperation with the United Nations, international financial institutions and key development partners, the dialogue will shape globally cooperative responses on a global magnitude in order to ensure fast-tracked efforts in building resilience.
Partners represented by at least 25 Finance Ministers, UN Secretary General, heads of state/government from Ethiopia, Costa Rica, Colombia and the Marshall Islands, United States Special Presidential Envoy for Climate, World Bank (WB) President, Asian Development Bank (ADB) President, Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) President, European Investment Bank (EIB) President, Global Environment Facility (GEF) CEO, Green Climate Fund (GCF) Executive Director, International Renewable Energy Agency Executive Director, United Nation University’s Institute for Environment and Human Security, United Nations Environment Program (UNEP), Insurance Development Forum, and other stakeholders will constitute the parties in attendance at the summit.
At the press conference ahead of the summit, Minister of Environment, Forest and Climate Change Md Shahab Uddin; Special Envoy of CVF Presidency of Bangladesh, Md Abul Kalam Azad; Secretary of Economic Relations Division Fatima Yasmin and Secretary of the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change Md Mostafa Kamal were present along with the Finance Minister.
Then Bangladesh Finance Minister and V20 Chair Mustafa Kamal said, “In this summit, there will be a high-level roundtable dialogue of the Ministers of Finance and representatives of V20 with key partner governments from the G7, G20 and international finance and development partners.”
He also said the summit outcome ‘Communique to articulate’ will be the core priorities and initiatives of the V20 member economies following the G7 Summit and ahead of the G20 Climate and Energy Joint Ministerial and G20 Summits which represent a key interval on the road to COP26 in Glasgow.
The Bangladesh Finance Minister has invited all the journalists from print, electronic and social media, civil society, academia, regional and international groups associated with climate change to join the first-ever Virtual “Climate Vulnerables Finance Summit.”
