CSG Patricia Scotland meets officials of World Bank, discusses ways for sustainable future

Commonwealth: Patricia Scotland, Commonwealth General Secretary (CSG), has recently shared a glimpse of her meeting with officials of the World Bank in Washington DC, the USA. The series of meetings were held during the last week, commencing from October 18, 2022.

On the margins of the Commonwealth Finance Ministers Meeting (CFMM) and World Bank – International Monetary Fund meetings, CSG Scotland held a series of bilateral meetings with ministers, senior officials and stakeholders to discuss the Commonwealth’s pressing issues as well as priorities and the way forward in building a sustainable future for all.

While conducting a series of meeting with finance ministers and World Bank officials, Patricia Scotland met with World Bank’s Managing Director and Chief Financing Officer, Anshula Kant, to discuss the complex and interconnected challenges that small and vulnerable states in the Commonwealth face and how the authority can work together to support them to achieve their development goals. 33 out of 56 Commonwealth members are the Small States; The Commonwealth’s been at the forefront of championing their interests for decades.

“I look forward to continuing discussions with World Bank and hope to establish partnerships to make climate finance more accessible,” she outlined.

She had important discussions with World Bank’s Development Finance Vice-President, Akihiko Nishio, on the need to offer countries financial support to accommodate climatic and other exogenous shocks and opportunities for The Commonwealth’s WBG climate financing collaboration through Commonwealth CFAH.

She also informed about her interaction with the CEO of the Climate Investment Funds, Mafalda Duarte. “I was delighted to sit down with Climate Investment Funds CEO Mafalda Duarte to discuss areas of collaboration on issues affecting the Commonwealth. Improving access to Climate Finance has never been more important to enable small and vulnerable states to adapt as well as build Climate Change resilience,” CSG said.