Fiji Sun Online, 21st June 2018
The first six-monthly report of the COP23 Secretariat was presented to the Public Accounts Committee in Parliament yesterday.
This was between May and October last year. It was based on key activities and expenditure from the COP23 Presidency Trust Fund.
According to the COP23 Presidency Trust Fund Act 2017, the Ministry responsible for finance must prepare a report every six months on the activities and expenditure of the Trust Fund.
COP23 Presidency Secretariat executive director John Connor presented the report to the Committee.
Last year on October 31st, a total sum of just over $25 million was received in the form of donations to the fund.
The major donors were Australia ($9.36m), European Union ($4.79m), Italy ($2.36m), India ($2.03m) and New Zealand ($1.89m).
According to the report; expenditure from May to October amounted to $11.6m leaving a balance of about $13.5m, prior to the full payment of Pre-COP and COP23 expenses in Bonn, Germany.