The CVF-V20 Secretariat participated in the 59th Asian Development Bank Annual Meeting, held in Samarkand, Uzbekistan, from May 3 to 6, under the theme “Crossroads of Progress: Advancing the Region’s Connected Future.” The delegation, comprising Hamza Haroon, Regional Director for West and South Asia, and Zulfiqar Younas, Senior Advisor on Climate Finance, represented the interests of climate-vulnerable economies in discussions on regional development, climate finance, and multilateral cooperation.
On the sidelines of the Annual Meeting, the CVF-V20 team convened a series of bilateral meetings with V20 Finance Ministers and senior representatives from the ADB, Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), ECO Trade and Development Bank, the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA), Central Asia Regional Economic Cooperation (CAREC) Program, and other development finance institutions.
Discussions focused on deepening practical cooperation around country-led climate investment, fiscal resilience, and implementation pathways for climate-vulnerable economies. Central to these conversations were CPPs, which are medium to long-term national investment strategies that integrate development, climate, and nature objectives, and serve as practical instruments for translating climate ambition into bankable project pipelines, financing strategies, and country-owned delivery mechanisms.
The discussions produced concrete openings for collaboration across several bilateral engagements. In a meeting with Noor Ahmed, ADB Board Director representing Kazakhstan, the Maldives, the Marshall Islands, Mongolia, Pakistan, the Philippines, and Timor-Leste, the conversation centered on strengthening cooperation between ADB and the CVF-V20 on climate action, including possible regional coordination on CPPs. Aamir Gondal, Vice President of the ECO Trade and Development Bank, expressed interest in exploring financing opportunities for CPP projects and potential collaboration ahead of COP31 in Antalya, Türkiye. Cathy Marsh, Director and General Counsel at MIGA, discussed extending guarantee instruments at the regional level to help scale CPP projects. The CVF-V20 team also met with Asad Aleem, ADB’s Regional Head for CAREC, who invited the Secretariat to engage with climate resilience initiatives being advanced across the program’s member countries.
Across these engagements, the CVF-V20 Secretariat briefed partners on Climate Prosperity Plans, medium- to long-term national investment strategies that integrate development, climate, and nature objectives. CPPs were presented as practical instruments for translating climate ambition into bankable project pipelines, financing strategies, and country-owned delivery mechanisms, and as a structured basis for deeper engagement between V20 member economies and the multilateral development banking system.
The delegation briefed partners on the forthcoming Vulnerability to Viability Compact, set to launch in June 2026 in Vienna in partnership with the OPEC Fund for International Development. The Compact aims to strengthen cooperation between V20 countries and development finance institutions through practical pathways for investment, concessional finance, and implementation support.
The engagements in Samarkand reaffirmed the CVF-V20’s commitment to partnerships that move beyond dialogue toward delivery, with CPPs serving as a ready platform for translating climate priorities into investable pipelines and long-term climate-resilient prosperity.
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