RIO DE JANEIRO, June 21, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Qatar joined sixteen other industrialized, emerging economies and developing countries on Wednesday in signing the Agreement on the Establishment of the Global Green Growth Institute. This agreement will convert the Global Green Growth Institute (GGGI), a think tank founded in 2010 and based in Seoul, Korea, into an international organization.

GGGI is dedicated to pioneering a new model of environmentally sustainable economic growth. Its conversion into an international organization is expected to facilitate GGGI's mission to develop and diffuse green growth as an economic model around the world.

The main goal of GGGI is to promote a paradigm shift in economic development – an approach which targets both economic performance and environmental sustainability – to address climate change and serve as a pathway to sustainable development. GGGI partners with developing countries and emerging economies, including least developed countries, to develop green growth strategies and plans that deliver poverty reduction, job creation and social inclusion in an environmentally sustainable way.

The initiative reflects much of the same vision the State of Qatar has for its own growth and development. Through the leadership of His Highness the Emir Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al-Thani, the nation continues to invest significantly in research and development as a means for addressing the challenges of sustainable growth. GGGI is one of several such multinational collaborations in which Qatar has stepped up to lead.

Since its establishment, GGGI has maintained its founding vision of becoming a multi-stakeholder, hybrid international organization based on partnership between developed and developing countries as well as between the public and private sectors. In a similar spirit, the State of Qatar is in the process of establishing the Global Dry Land Alliance (GDLA), a partnership among arid and semi-arid countries facing the threat of food and water insecurity.

Former Korean Prime Minister Han Seung-soo, who served as the Chair of the GGGI Board of Directors, said, "Today's signing of the Agreement on the Establishment of GGGI as an international organization marks a new chapter in the institutional development of GGGI, more forcefully committing itself hereinafter to the global promotion of green growth paradigm. I am sure that this will help herald a new era of global sustainability as well as human welfare." Former Danish Prime Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen will take over as Board Chair from July.

"Qatar is proud to join the GGGI and add our voice and vision to the development of this important work," said His Excellency Abdullah bin Hamad Al-Attiyah, Chairman of Qatar Administrative Control and Transparency Authority and head of the Qatari delegation to the Rio+20 UN Summit on Sustainable Development. "As a nation we believe it is our responsibility to invest today in the technologies and practices required to build a healthy and prosperous future for the next generation." His Excellency Dr. Khalid bin Mohammed Al-Attiya, Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, signed the agreement on behalf of the State of Qatar.

GGGI Executive Director Richard Samans thanked the signatory governments for their leadership and said, "The agreement you have signed today creates a new kind of international organization for the 21st century: interdisciplinary; multistakeholder and driven by the practical priorities of emerging and developing countries which are seeking to engineer a new model of growth and development that achieves strong, broad-based progress in living standards with greater resource security and environmental sustainability."

In addition to Qatar, 16 countries agreed to convert GGGI from a Korean foundation to an international organization, including Australia, Cambodia, Costa Rica, Denmark, Ethiopia, Guyana, Kiribati, Mexico, Norway, Papua New Guinea, Paraguay, the Philippines, Republic of Korea, United Arab Emirates, the United Kingdom, and Vietnam.

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SOURCE Qatar