Flagship Seminar - Paris Alignment: Opportunities and Challenges

The 2021 AIIB Annual Meeting will be opened by President Jin Liqun who will give a briefing on AIIB’s priorities for climate finance in support of implementation of the Paris Agreement.

As Asia faces the dual challenges of addressing climate change and development, Paris Alignment will conceive additional business opportunities in shifting toward a low-carbon, climate-resilient and sustainable development pathway. On the other hand, Paris Alignment is not an easy undertaking, which must cater to different national and sectoral contexts and capabilities to ensure that the transition is inclusive and fair. It also calls for unprecedented collaboration between public and private sectors in developing and developed economies to deliver timely impact at scale.

This event will bring together high-level speakers from MDBs, private sector investors and governments, to share their insights on how Asia can grasp opportunities and address challenges to align its future development with the Paris goals on mitigation, adaptation and finance.

Speakers

Mr. Jin Liqun

President and Chair of the Board of Directors, AIIB

Jin is the inaugural President and Chair of the Board of Directors. On July 28, 2020, he was elected to serve a second term of five years, beginning on Jan. 16, 2021. Before being elected as the Bank’s first President, he served as Secretary-General of the Multilateral Interim Secretariat tasked with establishing the Bank. Jin has rich experience across the private and public sectors and with MDBs. He served as Chair of China International Capital Corporation Limited (China’s first joint-venture investment bank), Chair of the Supervisory Board of China Investment Corporation and Chair of the International Forum of Sovereign Wealth Funds. He previously served as Vice President and then Ranking Vice President of the Asian Development Bank and as Alternate Executive Director for China at the World Bank and at the Global Environment Facility. Jin spent nearly two decades at the Chinese Ministry of Finance, reaching the rank of Vice Minister. He holds a master’s degree in English Literature from Beijing Institute of Foreign Languages (now Beijing Foreign Studies University) and was a Hubert Humphrey Fellow in the Economics Graduate Program at Boston University from 1987 to 1988. Jin is from the People’s Republic of China.

H.E. Ibrahim Ameer

Minister of Finance, Maldives

On 17th November 2018, Mr. Ibrahim Ameer was sworn in as the Minister of Finance, Republic of Maldives.

Mr. Ameer has worked at the Central Bank of Maldives, Maldives Monetary Authority (MMA) from April 2008 till June 2011 and during his tenure in MMA, he guided the Research Division in conducting economic analysis of different sectors of the Maldivian economy; and led preparation of Economic Bulletins and Review papers published by MMA. During this time, he also worked as a part-time lecturer for Economics and Microeconomics in various colleges.

He also served the private sector as a General Manager of ADK Trade and Shipping Pvt. Ltd from 28th October 2014 till 7th February 2015and as a Business Consultant from 4th May 2015 till he took charge of office as the Minister of Finance. Mr. Ameer is the Deputy Chairman of the Economic Committee of Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) and he was also the Chairman of Finance and Treasury Committee formed during the transition period after Elections 2018.

Mr. Ameer obtained his Bachelor’s Degree in International Economics (Hons) from Multimedia University in 2007 and as a Fulbright recipient he completed his Master’s Degree in Economics in 2013 from the University of Nebraska, Omaha.

Hon. Carlos G. Dominguez

Secretary of Finance, Philippines

Mr. Carlos Dominguez has over 40 years of vast experience and an outstanding track record of achievements at the helm of various organizations in the public and private sectors. His expertise was borne out of his experiences as a shareholder, board chairman and a member of over a dozen corporations across multi-industries such as power, agriculture, mining, banking, hospitality, real estate, and investment.

Mr. Dominguez was appointed as Cabinet Secretary thrice: as Secretary of Environment and Natural Resources (1986-1987), Secretary of Agriculture (1987-1989), and currently as Secretary of Finance since 2016.

Under his leadership, the Department of Finance (DOF) was able to draft and introduce to the Congress the first of a series of the Duterte administration’s proposed tax reform packages known as the Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion (TRAIN) Act less than 90 days from the time he assumed the Cabinet portfolio in July 2016. President Rodrigo Roa Duterte signed into law the TRAIN Act on December 19, 2017. This was followed by other successes in the legislature—such as the passage of the Tax Amnesty Act, the Tobacco Tax Reform Law, a new Sin Tax Reform Law which raised excise taxes on alcohol and electronic cigarettes, and the Corporate Recovery and Tax Incentives for Enterprises (CREATE) Act.

On his watch, the Philippines’ key revenue agencies—the Bureaus of Internal Revenue(BIR) and of Customs (BOC) also continue to achieve strong revenue growth rates. It was also under his leadership that the BIR was able to secure its largest tax settlement ever— amounting to about $600 million—from a single taxpayer in Philippine history.

Mr. Ken O’Flaherty

Regional Ambassador of Asia-Pacific and South Asia, COP26

Ken O’Flaherty is the COP26 Regional Ambassador for the Asia-Pacific region. He is working closely with governments, business and civil society across the region to boost climate action ahead of the COP26
Leaders’ Summit which will take place in Glasgow in November 2021.

Ken has recently returned from a posting as Minister in Rome, and has experience in a number of Foreign Office Departments. He has previously served in the British embassy in Tokyo and Paris as well as the former UK Representation to the European Union. Ken has worked on a wide range of issues from climate change and energy to economic, EU cooperation, security, counter-terrorism and migration issues.

Ms. Anne Richards DBE

CEO, Fidelity International

Anne joined Fidelity International as CEO in December 2018 from M&G Investments where she was CEO and a director of its parent company Prudential plc. Anne was appointed a Director of FIL Limited in September 2019. She has worked in the asset management industry since
1992. Anne has almost three decades of experience as an analyst, portfolio manager and CIO and is a strong proponent of ESG investing. Her career path spans many blue chip global names in the financial sector including Alliance Capital, JP Morgan, Merrill Lynch Investment
Managers and Aberdeen Asset Management.

Anne is a Chartered Engineer and began her career as a research fellow at CERN, the European Organisation for Nuclear Research. She is a former chair of the UK Financial Conduct Authority’s Practitioner Panel.
Anne was appointed a Dame Commander (DBE) in June 2021 for services to Financial Services, Women, Education and Science.

Anne holds an MBA from INSEAD and a BSc (Hons) from the University of Edinburgh. She is a fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh and holds an honorary degree from Heriot-Watt University.

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Live Q&A

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