Fourth CVF Leaders Meeting

Development Reset and Cooperation

United Nations (UN) Headquarters, New York

Against a backdrop of escalating climate disasters, energy shocks, deepening aid cuts, stalled development and resilience investment, and a widening loss-and-damage finance gap, CVF Leaders convened on the sidelines of the 81st Session of the UN General Assembly to chart a path forward.

With a Super El Niño underway and communities facing devastating floods, hurricanes, typhoons, glacial flooding, and drought across vulnerable regions, CVF Heads of State and Government and their representatives pledged their commitment to ambitious new initiatives in South-South cooperation. This includes advancing the Vulnerability to Viability (V2V) Compact with development finance institutions (DFIs) to unlock affordable, longer-term finance for water, education, and health, and moving towards operationalisation of the Lifeline Fund, a V20-owned multi-regional financial arrangement designed to provide rapid liquidity support when climate shocks translate into balance-of-payments pressures.

The Leaders also welcomed the Central African Republic, Zambia, and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, bringing CVF-V20 membership to 77 nations. Leaders also extended the Barbados Presidency for another year to advance the Lifeline Fund and welcomed former Costa Rican President Carlos Alvarado Quesada as incoming CVF-V20 Secretary-General.

Learn more about the meeting here
Download the CVF Leaders Declaration here

HIGHLIGHTS

"We are here with real progress to report, because others have also accepted the importance of what we are trying to do. I want to thank deeply and profoundly Dr. Alkhalifa and the OPEC Fund for International Development, who less than a year ago responded to a simple question: Do we want to change the trajectory of development finance, and can we show the rest of the world, as members of the Global South, that it is possible for us to innovate in the interests of our people? This came down to accepting that we need longer-term concessional finance for education, health, and water."

H.E. MIA AMOR MOTTLEY
Prime Minister of Barbados
Chair of the CVF-V20
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“This CVF Leaders Meeting comes at a very important moment… What we have seen in the past decades is that this changing climate robs many developing countries of even the scraps of opportunities they have for social and economic development and progress. But there is still no mechanism today for real assistance to these countries for the loss of economic growth after natural disasters… Vulnerability should not determine our future. We should determine what we can build through our own efforts, together with partners who are prepared to work with us on fair terms.”

H.E. DR. JENNIFER SIMONS
President
Republic of Suriname
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“Our national vulnerability assessments show exposure deepening year on year: in livelihoods, in agriculture, in infrastructure, and across our economy. Recent projections put the cost starkly, indicating that climate-related impacts could shave 5 to 7 percent off our GDP. That is not a distant risk or a single disaster to recover from; it is a standing tax on our development, levied whether or not we caused the damage. This is precisely why the CVF exists, and why Rwanda takes seriously what membership asks of us.”

H.E. DR. JUSTIN NSENGIYUMVA
Prime Minister
Republic of Rwanda
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“Our contribution to changing the climate is next to nothing, yet our people face floods, mudslides, coastal erosion and lost harvests. We borrow at higher cost than advanced economies, and we borrow to rebuild after disasters we did not cause. That cycle is not a development strategy; it is a trap, and that trap must be broken. This is why Sierra Leone warmly welcomes the V2V Compact. Its principle is the right one: countries lead and finance institutions align.”

H.E. DR. JULIUS MAADA BIO
President
Republic of Sierra Leone
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“The development reset led by this forum must replace fiscal depletion with durable prosperity. Saint Vincent and the Grenadines fully endorses the V2V Compact. Critical investments in water security, schools, and resilient health care cannot depend on short-term, essentially punitive debt. Such investments require long-term finance, 40-year terms or longer if possible, and borrowing rates priced below the national economic growth rate. Furthermore, our government registers its full endorsement of the governing instrument of the Lifeline Fund.”

H.E. DR. GODWIN FRIDAY
Prime Minister
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines
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“Development finance should be more accessible, more effective and better aligned with the countries' priorities. It focuses on three sectors fundamental to human development and long-term resilience, which are water, education and health.”

DR. ABDULHAMID ALKHALIFA
President
OPEC Fund for International Development
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“Our meeting is convened under the theme "Development Reset and Cooperation." This is more than a call for a policy pivot. It is a recognition that incremental adjustments are no longer sufficient to address the scale and interconnectedness of the polycrises we face. Resilience, prosperity, equity, and partnership must no longer be treated as aspirations at the margins of development policy; they must become central to it.”

H.E. THE MOST HONORABLE ELIZABETH THOMPSON
Ambassador of Climate Change, Law of the Sea, and Small Island Developing States Affairs of Barbados
Sherpa to Prime Minister Mia Amor Mottley
CVF-V20 Presidency
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“Two years ago, Ghana passed this presidency to Barbados with confidence. That confidence has been vindicated. Prime Minister Mottley's leadership has taken us from Washington to Vienna to New York: from a proposition about how development finance could work differently, to the V2V Compact itself, and now to a Lifeline Fund within reach of operational reality. This is not incremental progress; it is the development reset we set ourselves to achieve.”

H.E. SEIDU ISSIFU
Minister of State for Climate Change and Sustainability
Republic of Ghana
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“Rising seas, floods, salinity and cyclones already disrupt the daily lives of millions in Bangladesh. For us, climate change is not tomorrow's headline; it is today's struggle for existence. I welcome the central focus on advancing the V2V Compact. We also express our strong support for the Lifeline Fund… The CVF was born from the conviction that the most vulnerable should not only be heard, but should lead. Let us leave New York not only with statements, but with commitments.”

DR. SAIMUM PARVEZ
Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Environment, Forest and Climate Change Affairs
People's Republic of Bangladesh
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"A climate shock must never spiral into a debt crisis. Even our early-stage assessment of the current crisis indicates that we need about US$5 billion for reconstruction and rehabilitation of our communities, almost a third of Nepal's national budget and about 15 to 20 percent of its GDP. Nepal therefore strongly endorses the Bridgetown Initiative spearheaded by Prime Minister Mottley and the V2V Compact, to unlock affordable, grant-based financing and scale up debt-pause clauses”

HON. SHISHIR KHANAL
Minister for Foreign Affairs
Nepal
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“That is the very paradox of vulnerability: we must invest more because we are more exposed, even though that very vulnerability reduces our capacity to invest. We did not choose our vulnerability. But we chose to act.”

MR. ALIOU GORI DIOUF
Minister of the Environment
and Ecological Transition
Republic of Senegal
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“The task now is to turn that momentum into delivery. I therefore commend the CVF-V20 Group's launch of the Vulnerability to Viability Compact and the operationalization of the Lifeline Fund as transformative steps towards closing the financing gap facing climate-vulnerable economies.”

MS. RABAB FATIMA
Under-Secretary-General and High Representative for the Least Developed Countries, Landlocked Developing Countries and Small Island Developing States
United Nations
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“As the UK's Climate Minister, my message is simple: we want to work with you in a way that is practical, equal, and shaped by the realities you face. Because what happens in one part of the world does not stay there. A failed harvest can push up food prices thousands of miles away. Countries and leaders in this room have been clear about what they need: finance that is easier to access, responds quickly, and backs the priorities you set for yourselves.”

MS. KATIE WHITE
Minister of State, Department for Energy Security
United Kingdom
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“We must move from a model in which vulnerable countries are repeatedly asked to recover from shocks to one in which they are able to build resilience before the next shock arrives. We must move from reaction to anticipation, from emergency finance to predictable finance, from vulnerability to viability, and ultimately from climate vulnerability to climate prosperity.”

H.E. ISMAEL NABE
Minister of Planning and International Cooperation and Development
Republic of Guinea
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“To support delivery, we are advancing the Gambia Climate Change Fund as our national climate platform, and working with our central bank and domestic financial institutions to develop a green finance taxonomy and a climate risk disclosure framework. Together, these efforts are intended to strengthen the enabling environment for mobilizing public and private capital toward our climate and development priorities. We are not alone in this. We thank the CVF-V20 Secretariat for its close partnership in this work, and our other partners for their continuous engagement and support throughout this journey.“

H.E. ROHEY JOHN MANJANG
Minister for Environment, Climate Change and Natural Resources
Republic of The Gambia
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“Kyrgyzstan welcomes the Vulnerability to Viability Compact. We see this initiative as an important step toward a fairer, more accessible financial system that responds to the real needs of climate-vulnerable countries… [It] is an opportunity to move from political commitment to practical mechanisms. We also consider the development of a carbon market one of the tools for mobilizing additional resources to implement national climate priorities.”

H.E. AKYL TOKTOBAEV
Minister of Natural Resources, Ecology, and Technical Supervision
Kyrgyz Republic
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“Tonga proudly endorses the Lifeline Fund. Moreover, Tonga has just formally expressed its support for the V20 Pacific Window on prearranged finance. Tonga also formally expresses its strong interest in serving as the next presidency of the CVF-V20, ready to bring the Pacific voice as large ocean states and to help drive the forefront of global climate finance, resilience and sustainable development.”

H.E. VIKA SIVOKI LAVEMAAU
Minister of Finance and National Planning
Kingdom of Tonga
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“As the incoming COP31 Presidency, Türkiye attaches great importance to moving from commitments to implementation. In this context, the CVF's priorities are highly relevant to the direction of COP31. Access to adequate, predictable and affordable climate finance remains one of the key conditions for effective climate action. Initiatives such as the V2V Compact demonstrate the importance of practical financial approaches that help vulnerable countries move from exposure and vulnerability toward resilience and long-term viability. We also recognize the importance of mechanisms that provide rapid financial support following climate-related shocks and disasters.”

MR. FATIH TURAN
Director General for Environmental Management Ministry of Environment, Urbanization and Climate Change
Republic of Türkiye (COP31 Presidency)
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"Guyana warmly welcomes the progress made in concluding the V2V Compact and the Lifeline Fund, for both of which we express our strong support. We acknowledge the support of the OPEC Fund for International Development. We support the CVF's application for observer status at the United Nations. We support the Leaders Declaration, and we also strongly support the proposal that Barbados' leadership be extended for a further year."

DR. ASHNI SINGH
Senior Minister in the Office of the President with Responsibility for Finance
Guyana
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“The Philippines supports the adoption of the CVF Leaders Declaration and welcomes its call for a development reset. For the Philippines, this reset must translate commitments into accessible finance, stronger national systems, and practical mechanisms that deliver before, during, and after climate shocks.”

MS. ANALIZA REBUELTA-TEH
Undersecretary, Department of Environment and Natural Resources
Republic of the Philippines
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“Since we last met, Pakistan has finalized its Climate Prosperity Plan and an investor book of 69 bankable projects, which we intend to grow further before COP31. Together with our NDC 3.0 and National Adaptation Plan, these chart our path from vulnerability to resilience. We welcome the introduction of the Vulnerability to Viability Compact and look forward to the operationalization of the Lifeline Fund. We also welcome the Leaders Declaration, which we endorse.”

MS. ALEENA MAJEED
Second Secretary, Permanent Mission of Pakistan to the United Nations
Islamic Republic of Pakistan
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