Los Angeles, CA – March 9, 2019 – On Wednesday, March 13th, 2019, the Global Bank Disaster Risk Reduction and Reconstruction Fund – An Umbrella Trust Fund (the GB-DRRRF) will be participating in the G-20 Development Working Group's Meeting. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan (MOFA) has co-organized the Side-Event entitled "Prospects on Achieving Disaster Risk Reduction Agenda" with the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNISDR), the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), and the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) in the margins of the second G-20 Development Working Group (DWG) meeting under the Japanese Presidency.

The Global Bank Group delegation to the G-20 Development Working Group will be headed by the Chairman of Global Bank Group¹ Ron Nechemia. He will be accompanied by Bruce A. Harbin the Acting Senior Vice President and Interim General Counsel of Global Bank, and Mr. William R. Thomson the Chairperson of the Board of Directors of the Global Bank Infrastructure Project Preparation Facility. Mr. Thomson is a Senior Advisor to the President and the Chairman of the Board of Governors, Ron Nechemia. The delegation will deliver the message of “Build Better Before,” which resonances with the philosophy and guiding principle of Global Bank Group of Building Better Before a natural hazard has turned out to be a disaster, instead of “Build Back Better” which is the current state of affairs.

“The Global Bank Disaster Risk Reduction and Reconstruction Fund – An Umbrella Trust Fund is collaborating with a broad array of partners including the G-20, the World Bank Group, the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNISDR), the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), and the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA),” says Ron Nechemia, the President of the Global Bank Group. He added, “This allows for enhanced action to address ambitious adaptation and mitigation finance, including coordinated support for country-driven long-term strategies for low greenhouse gas emissions and respective technologies for climate-resilient development. As well as client countries’ efforts for Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) implementation and enabling environments, the development of risk-pooling and the enhancement of harmonized reporting of Global Bank Group’ climate finance.”

G-20 Japan 2019 Summit
On the 28th and 29th of June 2019, the leaders of the G-20 will gather in Osaka as Japan hosts its first-ever G-20 Summit. Concurrent with the Summit meeting, the Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors’ Meeting, the Foreign Ministers’ Meeting, and other ministerial meetings will also be held at eight different locations throughout Japan.

During its presidency of the G-20 Summit, the Japanese government is determined to carry out strong leadership in advancing discussions toward resolving the myriad issues now facing the international community including measures to battle poverty, covering economic disparity in both developed and developing countries.

Interesting facts about the G-20:

G-20 Development Working Group
The Group of 20 (G-20) Development Working Group (DWG) meeting is held in the margins of the second G-20 Development Working Group (DWG) under the Japanese Presidency's priorities of "buttressing sustainability."

The Japanese Presidency of the G-20 is placing Sustainable Development Goals at the center of its sustainable development agenda for the G-20 2019. The G-20 Development Working Group was established in 2010 under the Korean Presidency of the G-20 and is responsible for implementing the G-20 Development Agenda and reporting progress to the Sherpas. Under its pillar of buttressing sustainability, the Japanese Presidency is also focusing on climate change finance and energy. 

The main objectives of the Side Event are as follows;

• To enhance the coherence between the Sendai Framework, the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the Paris Climate Agreement.
• To explore further innovative actions that G-20-member states and international organizations can take to achieve this agenda.
• To reaffirm the importance of multiple efforts including inclusiveness, formulation of National and Local Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) Strategies (Plans), steady DRR investment, and Build Back Better.
• To come up with a summary paper to provide substantive inputs for the G-20 process.

The outcome would contribute to upcoming discussions at international fora such as G-20 as well as Global Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction 2019 and for calibrating the activities and programmes of the Global Bank Disaster Risk Reduction and Reconstruction Fund – An Umbrella Trust Fund.

“Natural disasters are a serious threat to human security and obstacle to poverty eradication and sustainable development,” says Ron Nechemia, President of the Global Bank Group. He added, “Japan has provided international cooperation in the area of disaster risk reduction with its knowledge and expertise acquired through experiences of various natural disasters.”

About GB-DRRRF
The Global Bank Disaster Risk Reduction and Reconstruction Fund – An Umbrella Trust Fund (GB-DRRRF), established in 2017, is a multi-donor partnership and grant-making financing mechanism. Its purpose is mainstreaming climate change into development to help achieve the Sendai Framework targets by 2030 - a decade-long plan to help make the world safer from disasters caused by natural hazards — and to support the implementation of the Global Climate Agreement in Paris, and prevent disasters undermining progress on the Sustainable Development Goals. The rapid and flexible support offered by the Global Bank Disaster Risk Reduction and Reconstruction Fund makes it a central pillar of the Global Bank Group agencies’ humanitarian response architecture.

More detailed information can be found on the GB-DRRRF’s website http://www.gbdrrrf.org

About Global Bank
Owned by the Global Bank Group, The Bank for International Development and Reconstruction, known as the Global Bank borrows in the international capital markets (the “BIDR,” or the “Global Bank”) and is the Global Bank Group’s long-term sovereign lending institution. As a development bank with an agenda driven by G-7/G-8 and G-20-priorities, its leading priority is to promote global economic and social development. Unlike the multilateral development banks (MDBs), Global Bank is not restricted to operating only in developing countries.

The Global Bank Group represents, develops and supports the collective interests of the Global Bank and any of its business interests globally. Global Bank is a full-fledged private sector global development bank, in formation, – the world’s second global development bank – positioned next to the World Bank Group and next to the preeminent regional development banks. It combines the characteristics of a multilateral development bank with those of a private financial institution. The main objective of the Global Bank is to reduce poverty in middle-income countries and creditworthy poorer countries by promoting sustainable development. To this end, Global Bank finances primarily public sector infrastructure projects and sustainable development through the provision of sovereign loans to developing countries. Global Bank’s financial objective is not to maximize profit, but to earn an adequate income to ensure its financial strength and to sustain its development activities.

For information about the Global Bank, please visit http://www.global-bank.org

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