Guyana Vice President urges Commonwealth to seize climate finance, AI opportunities for development
Guyana Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo has urged Commonwealth countries to fully capitalize on emerging opportunities in climate finance and digital innovation to accelerate sustainable development. Jagdeo made the comments while participating in a Commonwealth roundtable on Saturday focused on the Declaration on Sustainable Urbanisation, adopted in Kigali in 2022. The meeting, supported by The King’s […] The post Guyana Vice President urges Commonwealth to seize climate finance, AI opportunities for development appeared first on CNW Network.
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Guyana Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo has urged Commonwealth countries to fully capitalize on emerging opportunities in climate finance and digital innovation to accelerate sustainable development.
Jagdeo made the comments while participating in a Commonwealth roundtable on Saturday focused on the Declaration on Sustainable Urbanisation, adopted in Kigali in 2022. The meeting, supported by The King’s Foundation, brought together member states, experts, and civil society groups to discuss how to manage rapid urban growth while improving living standards, expanding economic opportunity, and strengthening resilience.
Commonwealth leaders have increasingly described the bloc as a platform for practical cooperation. One key initiative highlighted was the Commonwealth Climate Finance Access Hub, which was developed from work Jagdeo previously chaired and presented at the 2014 Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Colombo.
Now headquartered in Mauritius, the hub has helped mobilize nearly US$500 million in climate finance, supported more than 100 projects, and deployed expert advisers across over 15 countries.
Speaking after the meeting, Vice President Jagdeo said the initiative demonstrates what is possible when countries receive practical support to turn ideas into investable projects.
“The progress of the Commonwealth Climate Finance Access Hub is welcome and important. It shows what can be achieved when countries are given practical support to turn home-grown ideas into investable projects,” he said.
However, he warned that the scale of global climate and development challenges requires far more ambitious action.
“But the scale of today’s climate and development challenges requires far more,” Jagdeo said. “Helping all our people to secure better lives now requires managing complexity at a speed and scale not seen before.”
He called for new approaches, including stronger tools and improved international support systems for developing countries and small states.
“We need new thinking, new tools, and a step change in how the international community supports developing countries and smaller states,” he said.
Jagdeo noted that while the Commonwealth discussion focused on urbanization, similar challenges exist across all development sectors, particularly in the need for better data and more advanced digital tools.
At a recent artificial intelligence summit in New Delhi attended by global leaders and technology executives from companies such as Microsoft, Google, and OpenAI, Jagdeo said he observed how AI is already transforming planning and decision-making worldwide.
He said this presents major opportunities for developing countries but warned that benefits will not be evenly distributed unless inclusivity is prioritized.
“As I said today, if AI models are not trained on data from small and developing countries, it will not work for them,” he said.
Jagdeo called for increased investment in both traditional and AI-driven solutions tailored to the needs of smaller economies, adding that the Commonwealth—representing roughly one-third of the world’s population—can play a leading global role in shaping more equitable development outcomes.
The post Guyana Vice President urges Commonwealth to seize climate finance, AI opportunities for development appeared first on CNW Network.
