Samoa grants Privileges and Immunities status to GCF

The Government of Samoa has signed an agreement with the Green Climate Fund to provide the organisation with Privileges and Immunities.

The agreement was signed on the occasion of the 15th meeting of the Board that is currently taking place in Samoa, the first time such meeting is held in the Pacific.
 
The immunities granted are in line with those of other international organisations and those applied in the United Nations system.
 
The Executive Director ad interim of the GCF Secretariat, Javier Manzanares said the granting of Privileges and Immunities is highly important for the effective operationalisation of the Fund’s investments.
 
Pursuant to a decision by the Conference of the Parties (COP) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), governments recommended that Parties to the UNFCCC enter bilateral agreements with the Green Climate Fund by promptly providing Privileges and Immunities.
 
The conclusion of such agreements is warranted to protect the Fund’s assets and ensure the effective performance of the Fund’s activities.
 

To date, nine nations have granted Privileges and Immunities status to GCF. Four of these countries belong to the group of Pacific Small Island Developing States (SIDS), including Samoa, the Federated States of Micronesia, Papua New Guinea and Solomon Islands.
 
Meanwhile, Mongolia’s XacBank Thursday signed an Accreditation Master Agreement (AMA) with the Green Climate Fund, setting out its partnership with GCF to forge low-emissions and climate-resilient development paths in Asia.
 
“There is a big potential in Mongolia for businesses to generate profits by introducing new economically and environmentally sustainable ways of doing things,” said  Amartuvshin Hanibal, President of XacBank on the sidelines of GCF’s 15th Board meeting. “This marks an important milestone for the development of the Eco Banking line of business at our Bank,” he explained. “The agreement will help our bank create new links between profits and low-carbon development.”
 
GCF Executive Director ad interim Javier Manzanares, signing the agreement on behalf of the Fund, said: “Encouraging private sector investment is a key way in which GCF is leveraging its climate finance resources.”
 
Beginning in 2001 as a merger between micro-financing to help employ people, and a provider of loans to medium enterprises, XacBank is now one of Mongolia’s most prominent banks. The Banker magazine presented XacBank the best bank in Mongolia of 2016 award during a ceremony in London earlier this month.
 
XacBank was accredited to GCF as a direct access private sector entity earlier this year. It is the first commercial bank to sign an AMA with the Fund.