Global Green Growth Institute now an international organisation

From left to right: Australia’s Prime Minister Julia Gillard; President of South Korea, Lee Myung-bak; Denmark’s Prime Minister, Helle Thorning-Schmidt; Guyana’s President Donald Ramotar and Deputy UK Prime Minister Nick Clegg look on as United Nations Secretary General
Ban ki Moon speaks at the Global Green Growth Institute event in Rio de Janeiro

Co-hosted by the Republic of Korea, the Kingdom of Denmark, the Commonwealth of Australia and the Global Green Growth Institute (GGGI), the signing ceremony for the agreement on the establishment of GGGI was held on June 20 on the occasion of the Rio+20, United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Sixteen industrialised, emerging economies and developing countries joined the ceremony to sign the agreement that will convert GGGI into an international organisation.
These countries are Australia, Cambodia, Costa Rica, Denmark, Ethiopia, Guyana, Kiribati, Korea, Norway, Papua New Guinea, Paraguay, the Philippines, Qatar, the UAE, the United Kingdom, and Vietnam
Six heads of government, including Korean President Lee Myung-bak; Danish Prime Minister Helle Thorning-Schmidt; Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard; Guyana’s President Donald Ramotar; Kiribati President Anote Tong and Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi delivered welcoming and congratulatory remarks. Also, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and British Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg were present at the historic occasion.
The purpose of the signing ceremony was to prepare the legal framework for GGGI’s conversion into an international organisation. The signatories will become the founding members of GGGI when it launches as a new international organisation in October, this year.
Former Korean Prime Minister Han Seung-soo, who served as the chair of the GGGI Board of Directors, said, “Today’s signing of the agreement on the establishment of GGGI as an international organisation marks a new chapter in the institutional development of GGGI, more forcefully committing itself hereinafter to the global promotion of green growth paradigm. I am sure that this will help herald a new era of global sustainability as well as human welfare.”
Speaking at the event, Guyanese President Donald Ramotar said: “GGGI’s guiding ethos – that under the right international conditions, developing countries can lead the world to a prosperous, sustainable future – is the ethos that we need the wider world to accept. The world also needs to know that progress is possible, and I am proud to say that Guyana was one of the first countries in the world to put together a Low Carbon Development Strategy, which is now three years into implementation.
“Working with Norway, we are one of the first countries in the world to sell environmental services. We have been pleased to be associated with the Global Green Growth Institute since its inception, we are honoured to be here at this significant milestone, and we hope to see the institute grow from strength to strength in the years ahead.”

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