PM to open V20 Finance Summit Thursday

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, currently the Chair of the Climate Vulnerable Forum (CVF), will open the V20 Climate Vulnerables 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, reports UNB.

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.