ZCZC
BSS-23
MUHITH-COMMONWEALTH-MEET
Muhith to attend Commonwealth finance ministers’ meeting tomorrow
BALI (Indonesia), Oct 10 (BSS) – Finance Minister Abul Maal Abdul Muhith
will attend the Commonwealth finance minister level meeting here in Bali
tomorrow.
Finance ministers of 53 Commonwealth member states will take part in the
meeting where they likely to discuss financing solutions to help assess the
risk of natural disasters of these countries.
The meeting will be held on the sidelines of the International Monetary
Fund (IMF) and the World Bank annual meetings 2018 at Bali Nusa Dua
Convention Centre tomorrow.
Besides, World Bank Group President Dr Jim Yong Kim will meet Finance
Minister Muhith at Hotel Westin Bali tomorrow.
Officials said Muhith will also hold meeting with Indonesian Finance
Minister Mulyani Indrawati, World Bank South Asia Regional Vice President
Hartwig Schafer, Executive Vice President and CEO of MIGA Honda and IMF
Regional Vice President Snezana Stoiljkovic, and attend a lunch to be hosted
by the Executive Director of the World Bank on the same day.
According to the Commonwealth and the Annual Meetings 2018 organisers,
the Commonwealth Finance Ministers’ meeting under the theme ‘Enhancing
national capacity to reduce disaster risk’ will consider Commonwealth
proposals, including an online portal to simplify access to disaster finance
and placing long-term advisors in member countries to develop funding
applications for disaster risk management.
The ministers will also discuss Commonwealth work on defining and
measuring vulnerability.
The meeting will feature a keynote address by Special Representative of
the UN Secretary-General on Disaster Risk Reduction Mami Mizutori.
“Natural disasters are increasingly inflicting massive negative economic
and environmental impacts on Commonwealth countries,” Commonwealth Secretary-
General Patricia Scotland said on Monday.
The proposed Commonwealth Disaster Risk Finance Portal will serve as a
‘one stop shop’ for streamlined access to the numerous financing tools
already available.
It will include guidance on navigating the complex funding processes and
broad range of providers, each with differing eligibility and access
criteria, and challenging terms and conditions.
The finance ministers will consider extending the Commonwealth Climate
Finance Access Hub’s advisory and technical support to the member states to
cover disaster finance more widely, especially for smaller and more
vulnerable Commonwealth countries.
That would broaden the success of the programme, which has already been
instrumental in helping mobilise more than 4 million pound sterling for
climate projects in various parts of the Commonwealth, with a further 140
million pound in the pipeline.
The ministers will also discuss the concept of a new universal economic
vulnerability index to focus on the economic, environmental, socio-political
causes of vulnerability.
The finance minister level meeting is the longest established annual
ministerial meeting in the cycle of intergovernmental Commonwealth
gatherings, which provides an opportunity for ministers collectively to
consider approaches to emerging global issues and the economic development
work programme of the Commonwealth.
Meanwhile, around 12,000 to 15,000 people will attend the Annual
Meetings, including about 3,500 delegates from 189 countries, roughly 1,000
media representatives, and more than 5,000 participants from private sector,
banking sector, academic institutions, civil society organisations, and also
observers and parliamentarians.
BSS/ASG/GM/MRI/1505 hrs