Arusha — Vice-president Dr Philip Mpango is set to inaugurate the 24th Forum and the 35th Meeting of the Permanent Financial Committee of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) at the Arusha International Conference Centre (AICC), today.

The five-day meeting brings together 200 participants from over 80 countries.

This will be the first time for Tanzania to host this meeting, which serves as a preparatory session for the 29th Conference of the Parties (COP29) conference scheduled for November this year in Baku, Azerbaijan, according to a statement released by the Vice-President's office.

The statement also revealed that Tanzania was selected as the host country following a request by President Dr Samia Suluhu Hassan to the UNFCCC, with the aim of enhancing access to climate financing.

Under the theme "Increasing Speed in Dealing with Climate Change through Gender Responsive Financing," the meeting seeks to address critical issues of climate change funding.

The Permanent Financial Committee was established during the 16th Conference of the Parties (COP16) and consists of 32 members from both developing and developed countries.

Its primary role is to facilitate access to funding for climate action initiatives. The goal of the committee was mentioned as to facilitate access of fund for the implementation of contract activities whereas the committee has a total of 32 members elected from developing and developed countries which are members of the agreement.

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The Conference of the Parties (COP) is the group of nations that have signed the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), which was put together in 1992.

It commits them to act together to stabilise greenhouse gas concentrations "at a level that would prevent dangerous anthropogenic (humaninduced) interference with the climate system".

Since then the Parties, or nations, have met almost annually.