Finance ministers and representatives of Commonwealth countries meet in Bali

By Jeanette Elsworth

11 October 2018, Bali - Mami Mizutori, Head of the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNISDR), has called on ministers of finance around the world to incentivize the private sector to commit to risk-informed investment and practice.

Mrs Mizutori, who is also the UN Secretary-General’s Special Representative on this topic, made the comments while speaking at a meeting of the finance ministers of Commonwealth countries which took place in Bali, Indonesia, just two weeks after a devastating earthquake and tsunami hit the island of Sulawesi.

“Nobody understands better the long-term impacts of unnecessary economic losses on human development than the people in this room,” said Mrs Mizutori, emphasizing that the impacts of natural hazards can be felt far beyond the initial event and many of the key issues facing the global population and economy are inter-linked.

“The economic losses that follow are a hard blow to sustain and can set back development gains by many years. How well we manage and reduce disaster risk will influence our success in achieving sustainable development and adapting to climate change,” she said.

The meeting took place as part of the annual World Bank/IMF meeting where senior officials representing 53 countries were gathered.