Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se (second from right), and Green Climate Fund co-chairman Ewen McDonald (center), Incheon Mayor Song Young-gil (right) and other officials pose after signing an agreement to establish the U.N. agency’s headquarters in the city’s business district of Songdo. (Yonhap News)
South Korea signed a deal with the board of the U.N. Green Climate Fund (GCF) Monday to help the new U.N. fund establish its headquarters here, ministry officials said.
South Korea was chosen last October to host the U.N. fund that aims to channel $100 billion a year in aid to help developing nations combat climate change. The headquarters of the U.N. fund will be situated in Songdo, Incheon City.
Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se and Co-Chairman of the Green Climate Fund Ewen McDonald, signed the agreement at a ceremony in Songdo earlier in the day.
The agreement “regulates the privileges and immunities granted to the GCF and its staff,” a senior ministry official said.
South Korea “will support the swift establishment and smooth operation of the GCF headquarters through the agreement,” the official said on the condition of anonymity.
The agreement will take effect after South Korea’s National Assembly approves it.
“Upon the effectuation of the GCF Headquarters Agreement, the interim secretariat of the GCF, located in Bonn, Germany, will finish technical and administrative preparations to move to Songdo and will be newly launched as an independent secretariat,” the official said. (Yonhap News)