Secretary Ministry of Environment Forest and Climate Change, Smt Leena Nandan Participated in a panel discussion on building Resilient Infrastructure for the Future. The event was organised by CDRI at the Egyptian Pavilion at COP 27, yesterday. 

H.E Dr Ahmed Kamal, Deputy Minister of Planning and Economic Development, the Arab Republic of Egypt initiated the discussion by saying that agenda for 2030 requires investment in resilient infrastructure. He shared that African countries are facing debt due to a vanishing fiscal space. He emphasised that investments in infrastructure need to be made and need to be inclusive. Stating that infrastructure in Africa has improved both in terms of quantity and quality, he said that lot of investments have been made in mitigation and adaptation projects which puts additional burden on Egypt’s budget. The Deputy Minister spoke about the need to bring private investment on board to assist the governments. He also said that Egypt is endowed with natural resources and solar and wind are being used for green energy. The Deputy Minister also emphasised on the need for localisation that is to see the development gaps and focus on localisation  so that no one is left behind.

Speaking during the discussion Secretary MoEFCC, Government of India said that India needs to care for the aspirations of 1billion people. The challenge is to work towards fulfilling these aspirations and fulfilling the commitments to ensure climate action for a sustainable future. She took the opportunity to reiterate that India has set targets, achieved those targets in advance and set further targets along with building coalitions like CDRI. She said that she agreed with the Deputy Minister that there is a need for private capital to flow into adaptation process. Mitigation, she said, is one part of the story- why should adaptation be its poor cousin. Countries are responding to the imperative challenge of Climate Change but the issue of Finance remains. Action plans backed by fund flow need to be in place. Time for action has come, she said.

Ms Ahuna Eziakonwa, assistant Secretary General, Assistant Administrator and Director of the Regional Bureau for Africa, UNDP; Ms Ekhosuehi Iyahen, Secretary General of the Insurance Development forum; Mr Aromar Revi, Director, Indian institute of Human settlements were among those invited for the discussion. Mr Kamal Kishore, Member Secretary, National Disaster Management authority Government of India and Co chair of CDRI’s Executive Committee moderated the session.

The session was aimed at gathering insights on strengthening infrastructure resilience to ensure that today’s investments meet the challenges of tomorrow.

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