People’s Bank Chief Executive Officer/General Manager Ranjith Kodituwakku was invited to participate as a panellist at the recently held SUFIP 2022: Sustainable Finance in the Indo Pacific event in France co-organised by Agence Française de Développement (AFD) and the EXIM Bank of India. 

The event gathered the European and Indo-Pacific development banks on the sidelines of the European Indo-Pacific Ministerial Forum and comprised of opening/closing sessions as well as four panels based on broad thematic areas. Kodituwakku was a panellist for the fourth panel ‘Financing Social Resilience in the Post-Pandemic Indo-Pacific: Improving Public Health, Nutrition and Agriculture’. 

The other three panels discussed key areas, including ‘Sustainable Agenda in the Indo-Pacific: Connectivity and Quality Infrastructures’, ‘From Climate Agreement to Climate Action: Financing Decarbonisation, Resilience and Biodiversity’ and ‘Accelerating the Energy Transition: Turning Commitment into Reality’. The Indo-Pacific region will be the engine of global growth and recovery in the post-pandemic era although countries in the region are operating facing multiple challenges especially in the post-pandemic economic revival. Both India and France share the view that a new, decentralised, robust and inclusive economic perspectives needs to be built in the Indo-Pacific that prioritises the economic aspirations of its residents. 

This event brought together the different stakeholders from public financial institutions and development banks, to chart out mechanisms for understanding and co-operation on sustainable modernisation in the Indo-Pacific region. It presented several institutions with the opportunity to highlight their commitment towards key actions in priority areas, including climate and energy transition, digital connectivity, health, biodiversity and the blue economy.

Sharing his thoughts on the event, Kodituwakku stated, “It gives me great pride to represent People’s Bank and Sri Lanka at such a prestigious regional event that brought together some of the most knowledgeable and experienced individuals in sustainable finance on to one stage. With the Indo-Pacific region facing several hurdles in today’s pandemic-hit world it is important that countries and their respective key institutions work closely with each other to come up with solutions to the region’s pressing problems across different areas. This event certainly was a timely one as it brought together the institutions that channel development finance to determine how they can together catalyse progress in sectors such as climate finance, renewable energy and health.”