Seoul, March 18, 2021. On Tuesday, March 16, the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Mr. Rodolfo Enrique Zea Navarro, together with the Colombian Ambassador to the Republic of Korea, H.E. Juan Carlos Caiza Rosero, deposited before the president and Chair of GGGI, Mr. Ban Ki-moon, and the Director General, Dr. Frank Rijsberman, the instrument of accession for the Republic of Colombia to become the 39th Member of the Global Green Growth Institute (GGGI).
Under the Agreement of the Establishment of GGGI, a country officially becomes a Member of GGGI 30 days after the deposit of its ratification; therefore, Colombia will formally become a Member of GGGI on April 15, 2021.
“Even before Colombia became an official GGGI member, for the last 8 years GGGI has invested directly and secured projects that amount close to USD 14 million for our country operation, while mobilizing over 400 million dollars for Colombia. We expect that with our new member, we can continue expanding green growth approaches in the country for years to come”, said Mr. Ban.
In this regard, Minister Zea highlighted: “As the second most biodiverse country in the world, Colombia is eager to welcome GGGI’s continued support in forestry, biodiversity, entrepreneurship, and innovation”, and assured that the Government of Colombia offers its full support to GGGI’s initiatives.
Currently, GGGI is a trusted advisor to the Colombian government to facilitate the achievement of its climate and sustainable development goals by 2030, through strategic policy advisory and strengthening and mobilizing finance towards green investment projects on sustainable land-use, deforestation reduction, bioeconomy, sustainable tourism, waste management, clean energy, and e-mobility approaches. However, GGGI’s work does not stop with addressing the national agenda but also extends to supporting Colombia’s territories. There, GGGI is joining subnational governments and environmental authorities to facilitate the applicability and sustainability of results from the national level to the subnational level.
About GGGI
GGGI was established as an international intergovernmental organization in 2012 at the Rio+20 United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development. Through its vision of a low-carbon, resilient world of strong, inclusive, and sustainable growth, and its mission to support Member countries in the transformation of their economies into a green growth economic model, GGGI provides technical support, capacity building, policy planning & implementation, and support to build a pipeline of bankable green investment projects.
Mr. Ban Ki-moon is the President of the Assembly and Chair of the Council of GGGI. Membership to GGGI is open to Member States of the United Nations and Regional Integration Organizations ratify the Agreement on the Establishment of GGGI. The Members of GGGI are Angola, Australia, Burkina Faso, Cambodia, Colombia, Costa Rica, Denmark, Ecuador, Ethiopia, Fiji, Guyana, Hungary, Indonesia, Jordan, Kiribati, Republic of Korea, Kyrgyz Republic, Lao PDR, Mexico, Mongolia, Norway, Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States, Papua New Guinea, Paraguay, Peru, Philippines, Qatar, Rwanda, Senegal, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Tonga, United Arab Emirates, Uganda, United Kingdom, Uzbekistan, Vanuatu, and Viet Nam.