25 October 2012
GGGI Forms Assembly and Council, Appoints Director-General
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The GGGI is now an international organization, and recently held the inaugural meetings of its Assembly and Council.

The Assembly will advise on the overall direction and elect Council members and the Director-General.

The Council will approve the organization's strategy, budget, admission of new members, and criteria for green growth planning and implementation programs.

The Secretariat will be headed by the Director-General, and will be based in Seoul.

23 October 2012: The Global Green Growth Institute (GGGI) has held the inaugural meetings of its newly formed Assembly and Council, adopting the rules and procedures, and appointing a Director-General. The organization was established originally as a foundation under domestic law in the Republic of Korea and now is officially an international organization.

The 18 founding member countries convened on 23 October 2012, in Seoul, Republic of Korea, to adopt the rules and procedures of the Assembly and Council. The Institute’s Establishment Agreement, signed by all founding members, sets forth GGGI’s new governance structure, which consists of an Assembly, Council and Secretariat. The Assembly will advise on the overall direction of GGGI and elect Council members and the Director-General. The Council will approve the organization’s strategy, budget, admission of new members, and criteria for green growth planning and implementation programs. The Secretariat will be headed by the Director-General, and will be based in Seoul.

GGGI Member nations include: Australia, Cambodia, Costa Rica, Denmark, Ethiopia, Guyana, Indonesia, Kirabati, Korea, Mexico, Norway, Papua New Guinea, Paraguay, Philippines, Qatar, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, and Vietnam. The Assembly elected the Honorable Bharrat Jagdeo, former President of Guyana, to be President of the Assembly.

During the inaugural meetings, the Assembly elected seven members to serve on the Council: Australia, Costa Rica, Denmark, Ethiopia, Indonesia, Kiribati, and Qatar. It also elected four non-state representatives to the Council – current GGGI Board Chair and former Prime Minister of Denmark Lars Løkke Rasmussen; and current GGGI Board members Lord Nicholas Stern, Chairman of the Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment, London School of Economics; Kim Sang-hyup, Senior Secretary for Green Growth and Environment of Korea; and Montek Ahluwalia, Deputy Chairman of the Planning Commission, Government of India.

The Council nominated current GGGI Executive Director Richard Samans for the Director-General position, and the Assembly approved his nomination.

During the opening ceremony, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, speaking via video, said the GGGI’s launch as an international organization is a “great advance,” and that it will serve as a think tank and laboratory for developing countries pursuing green growth. He said the UN is committed to strengthening cooperation with GGGI, and the Sustainable Energy for All (SE4ALL) initiative is one area for focused collaboration. [GGGI Press Release] [Statement of UN Secretary-General]


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