Ethiopia out, Marshall Islands in as Climate Vulnerable Forum chair

The Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia concluded its chairmanship of the Climate Vulnerable Forum (CVF) and the Vulnerable Twenty (V20) Group of the member states of the CVF with a handover ceremony held at Addis Ababa on Tuesday August 28, 2018 transferring presidency responsibilities to the Republic of the Marshall Islands.
Speaking at the event, H.E. Dr. Gemedo Dalle, Minister of Environment, Forest and Climate Change said: “The Marshall Islands gives us hope. They are very vocal and committed to fighting climate change. The CVF is in safe hands. We strive for 1.5°C to thrive and we can do this together. The dream of a safer world needs the cooperation of all countries, and of every man, woman, and child.”
Accepting the responsibilities of the Forum chairmanship, Mr. Carlsan Heine of the Office of the President of the Marshall Islands said: “We have come together on climate change and we will continue to fight together on climate change. The Marshall Islands stands on the shoulders of the giants of this Forum who came before us as we seek to implement the CVF Vision and the core priorities of the V20 Finance Ministers. We are proud that a Pacific island nation of less than 100,000 inhabitants under female leadership will take forward this global Forum at this critical moment.”
The Marshall Islands is convening an entirely online Virtual Summit of the Climate Vulnerable Forum on 22 November 2018 and it was indicated that the Summit would be front and center of the Forum’s work for the remainder of 2018.
The handover ceremony took place in conjunction with meetings of the V20 Focus Groups and a CVF-V20 Troika Meeting held at Addis Ababa from 27-28 August 2018, gathering senior CVF and V20 officials from different world regions.