Kufuor arrives in New York for UN Special Envoy Role

Former President John Agyekum Kufuor has arrived in the New York to confer with officials of United Nations and the World Bank on his appointment as Special Envoy of the United Nations on Climate Change.

President Kufuor and his co-Special Envoy, Jens Stoltenberg, former Prime Minister of Norway, will have two days of meetings with officials of the two world bodies to strategize on the execution of their new roles.

This was contained in a statement signed by the former President’s Spokesperson, Mr Frank Agyekum.

The two leaders were appointed last December by UN General-Secretary Ban Ki Moon to sensitize heads of state, governments and key stakeholders to keep their pledges on minimizing the greenhouse effect which among others has increased climate warming across the world resulting in natural disasters in many parts of the globe.

Their mandate includes mobilizing political will for a global legal agreement that limits the world to less than a two-degree Celsius rise in global temperatures by 2030.

The statement said the meeting will also set the agenda for the World Climate Summit to be held in September 2014 by the UN.

Mr Ban will address the second day of the meeting which includes his deputy, Jan Eliasson, Mr. Robert Orr, Assistant Secretary-General for Strategic Planning and Mr. Tomas Christensen, Senior Advisor on Partnership.

The World Bank is represented by Ms. Rachel Kyte, Vice President for Sustainable Development, Mr. Patrick Verkooijen, Special Representative for Climate Change and Mr. Yuvan Beejadhur, Partnerships Specialist, World Bank Group among others.