Norway will provide NOK 208 million in humanitarian aid to Afghanistan in 2016, twice as much as in 2015. ‘There are still urgent humanitarian needs that are not being met. Eight million Afghans need protection and emergency assistance. Every single day so far this year almost a thousand people have had to flee their homes,’ said Minister of Foreign Affairs Børge Brende, who is visiting Kabul today.

The humanitarian situation in Afghanistan is very serious, with armed conflict, extreme poverty and more than one million internally displaced people. The UN and the humanitarian organisations have only received 16 % of the funding they need for humanitarian assistance. Norway is now increasing the funding it is providing for food, water, sanitation, shelter and health care, and for schooling for Afghan children who are refugees or internally displaced.
‘By doubling our humanitarian aid to Afghanistan, we are making it possible for our humanitarian partners to support even larger numbers of vulnerable people, particularly women and children,’ said Mr Brende.

The Foreign Minister is visiting Afghanistan in connection with the high level Kabul Symposium on women’s empowerment, which organized by the Afghan Government with support from Norway and the US. Mr Brende is also meeting UN Special Representative Nicholas Haysom and leaders of the UN agencies in Afghanistan. One important topic will be civilians’ access to humanitarian aid. Aid workers in Afghanistan are at particularly high risk of attack and abduction, and the victims are often local Afghan employees. This year alone, five aid workers have been killed and more than 80 kidnapped, according to the UN.

‘The result is that humanitarian aid does not reach some of the areas where the needs are most pressing. We urge all parties to grant civilians unhindered access to humanitarian support,’ said Mr Brende.

The increase in humanitarian aid will be channelled via partners Norway has been cooperating with for many years, including the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR), the World Food Programme (WFP), the Norwegian Refugee Council and Norwegian Church Aid. Norway will increase its support to the Afghanistan Humanitarian Fund in order to strengthen the coordinating role of the UN and ensure that acute needs are met quickly. Through UNICEF, Norway will assist in the reintegration of child migrants and refugees who are returning from Iran. Norway is also providing support to the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), which provides medical assistance where no other health services are available. Through funding to the ICRC and via the Norwegian Red Cross, Norway is also helping the Afghan Red Crescent to build up its preparedness in local communities in all 34 of Afghanistan’s provinces.

Press contact: Astrid Sehl, asse@mfa.no (accompanying the Foreign Minister)

Mexico’s Foreign Minister Patricia Espinosa speaks during a news conference at the 41st General Assembly of the Organisation of American States (OAS) in San Salvador June 6, 2011. REUTERS/Luis Galdamez/File Photo

The United Nations’s incoming climate chief said on Thursday (19/05) she will push for rapid action under a UN accord to slow global warming and expressed hopes that US Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump will drop calls for a renegotiation if elected.

Mexico’s Patricia Espinosa, a former foreign minister appointed on Wednesday to head the Bonn-based UN Climate Change Secretariat from July, urged all governments swiftly to ratify the 195-nation accord hammered out in Paris in December.

She told Reuters that “it’s not impossible” that the agreement, seeking to transform the global economy away from fossil fuels this century, could enter into force as early as this year, giving it strength in international law.

Espinosa is at odds with Trump, who is skeptical that man-made emissions cause climate change. He told Reuters on Tuesday that he was “not a big fan” of the Paris accord and that “at a minimum I will be renegotiating those agreements”.

Asked about Trump’s threat, Espinosa said the Paris deal was a hard-won compromise by more than 190 nations. “It would not be easy for anybody to just say ‘I want to renegotiate this’,” she said.

Nations who agreed in Paris range from top greenhouse gas emitters China and the United States, small island nations fearful of rising sea levels and OPEC members who depend on income from oil.

Renegotiation “is really not a scenario that in a multilateral process you can see as something feasible,” she added.

Espinosa said she would be “respectful of everybody who has a role to play in any country” but at the same time seek to build momentum for action. Many other backers of the accord have expressed dismay at Trump’s call.

The Paris Agreement will enter into force once 55 nations responsible for 55 percent of global emissions formally ratify the deal.

So far, 16 nations have ratified, accounting for just 0.03 percent of emissions. Many nations, including China and the United States which together represent 38 percent of emissions, say they will join this year.

Espinosa, 57 and now Mexico’s ambassador to Germany, will succeed Christiana Figueres of Costa Rica, who is stepping down after six years.

Espinosa said she also will seek to link action to curb climate change to all aspects of development in coming years.

She agreed with Figueres, who has said governments will have to toughen existing pledges to cut greenhouse gas emissions to limit a rise in temperatures linked to more droughts, floods and rising seas.

“I think it’s possible but very difficult, not reachable with the commitments we have on the table,” Espinosa said of the toughest goal in the Paris Agreement, to limit warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 Fahrenheit) above pre-industrial times.

Reuters

Minister of Foreign Affairs Børge Brende was taking part in the launch of the Nordic Microfinance Initiative (NMI) yesterday. This is a new Nordic cooperation venture involving private Norwegian investors and two state investment funds, the Norwegian Investment Fund for Developing Countries (Norfund) and Denmark’s Investment Fund for Developing Countries (IFU). The first capital injection is around NOK 715 million.

‘By giving poor people access to the services they need to save, borrow and invest, the Nordic Microfinance Initiative will play a part in achieving the first and most ambitious of the sustainable development goals – to end poverty. Business development is essential for economic growth in developing countries, and it is one of the main priorities of Norwegian development policy. I am pleased that the new fund is now being organised in cooperation between the Nordic countries, and look forward to following its progress,’ said Mr Brende.

The NMI, which was previously called the Norwegian Microfinance Initiative, will invest on a commercial and socially sustainable basis in medium-sized financial institutions in East Africa and South and South-East Asia that have a potential for further growth. It has already invested in the Kenyan Women’s Financial Trust, which offers financial services to 800 000 women in all parts of Kenya.

‘Microfinance is a vital development policy instrument. It gives poor people the opportunity to borrow money that they can invest in their own future in order to improve their living conditions. I am very pleased that we have established this public-private partnership with both Norfund and IFU on board, so that we have a stronger capital base for this important work,’ said the Danish Minister for Foreign Affairs Kristian Jensen.

‘Since 2008, the Norwegian Microfinance Initiative has been providing funding to create employment and promote economic and social sustainability in developing countries. With IFU on the team, we can expand NMI into a leading Nordic platform for microfinance, develop microfinance institutions and provide financial services for even larger numbers of people. And we can give priority to women, who are an important target group in development work,’ said Managing Director Kjell Roland in Norfund.

The private Nordic investors in NMI are providing 45 % of the total capital of NOK 715 million, while the remaining 55 % comes from Norfund and IFU. Ferd, one of Norway’s largest private companies, is one of the private investors.
‘The background for our initiative in 2007 was that Norway was in a good position to reduce poverty by giving people access to financial services. We had strong institutions like Norfund and Norad, private risk capital investors, a common desire to make a difference, and plenty of drive. We established the Norwegian Microfinance Initiative, and are now reaching out to almost five million people by means of direct investments and far more through investment in funds. We are looking forward to expanding this work together with IFU,’ said the Chairman of Ferd, Johan H. Andresen.

‘I am very pleased that we have developed this strong public-private Nordic partnership in microfinance. We view this as the first step toward an even broader platform with the participation of private investors from more Nordic countries. We will now be able to intensify our efforts to offer financial services to poor people,’ said CEO Tommy Thomsen of IFU.