Ofori-Atta to chair meeting of 58 climate-vulnerable economies

Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta will this Sunday, October 16, 2022 preside over a meeting of Finance Ministers from 58 countries around the world whose economies are most vulnerable to climate change.

Known as the V20 Ministers of Finance Annual Dialogue, it is held every year alongside the World Bank-International Monetary Fund (IMF) Annual Meetings in Washington DC, in the United States of America.

The meeting will be attended by Finance Ministers from Africa, Asia, the Caribbean, Latin America, the Middle East, and the Pacific.

Reacting to the news, Ofori-Atta said “Ghana welcomes the challenge of leading the world’s biggest grouping of climate-vulnerable economies to find ways to protect economic growth amidst growing risks posed by climate change”.

“We aim to keep our economies thriving, provide jobs for our people and protect our industries while advocating for solutions to the clime crisis,” he added.

A press release issued by V20 said during the dialogue, the Finance Ministers along with heads and senior representatives of international multilateral institutions will tackle pressing issues such as debt repayments to finance climate action, V20 as an official group within IMF and World Bank, IMF’s newly created Resilience and Sustainability Trust as well as Climate Prosperity Plans.

V20 has several ongoing initiatives with G7 and G20 countries to tackle global climate finance as well as loss and damage issues.

According to the latest research titled “Climate Vulnerable Economies Loss Report”, economies of V20 countries have lost approximately $525 billion over the two decades.

The failure to deliver on the $100 billion of international climate finance, particularly the failure to ensure a 50:50 balance for adaptation, has left V20 highly exposed.

Ghana is working with V20 and Climate Vulnerable Forum (CVF) for COP27 in Egypt from November  6 – 18, 2022 to deliver concrete results in terms of establishing international funding for loss and damage through a dedicated new instrument.

Formed in 2015, the V20 Group of Finance Ministers is a dedicated cooperation initiative of economies systematically vulnerable to climate change.

V20 Group members are also states of the Climate Vulnerable Forum (CVF).

The Group’s incoming chair is the Republic of Ghana. The V20 membership stands at 55 economies including Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Barbados, Benin, Bhutan, Burkina Faso, Cambodia, Colombia, Comoros, Costa Rica, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Dominican Republic, Ethiopia, Eswatini, Fiji, The Gambia, Ghana, Grenada, Guatemala, Guinea, Guyana, Haiti, Honduras, Kenya, Kiribati, Nicaragua, Lebanon, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Maldives, Marshall Islands, Mongolia, Morocco, Nepal, Niger, Palau, Palestine, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, Rwanda, Saint Lucia, Samoa, Senegal, South Sudan, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Tanzania, Timor-Leste, Tunisia, Tuvalu, Uganda, Vanuatu, Viet Nam and Yemen.