The blueprint builds on the Independent High-Level Expert Group on Climate Finance co-chaired by Vera Songwe former executive secretary of the UN Economic Commission for Africa and Nicholas Stern former senior advisor on development to the British government which argued that the failure to meet the $100 billion commitment for climate adaptation finance has been largely due to the inadequate growth in official concessional finance and private sector innovation...

These include figures such as the writer Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie architect David Adjaye and economists Vera Songwe and Kako Nabukpo...

Little came of ECA executive secretary Vera Songwe and AU special envoy Tidjane Thiam's call last year for a special structure backed by major international financial institutions to support African payments on outstanding sovereign bonds (Vol 61 No 9)...

The front-runners are Cameroon's Vera Songwe executive secretary at the UN's Economic Commission for Africa and Tanzania's Frannie Léautier chief operating office at Southbridge an investment management company...

However Vera Songwe executive secretary of the UN's Economic Commission for Africa and Tidjane Thiam former chief executive officer of Credit Suisse and an AU special envoy say the main point of their plan is to head off any risk of default by setting up a structure agreed by the main players in the market and backed by a triple-A rated international financial institution such as the International Monetary Fund or the World Bank or one of the bigger G-20 economies...

ECA Executive Secretary Vera Songwe is in Washington DC trying to coordinate a response with other UN agencies and the World Bank and International Monetary Fund...