His Excellency David Paul, Minister of Finance of the Marshall Islands; Dr. Charlotte Justine Diokno-Sicat, Executive Director, Asian Development Bank; Winfried Wicklein, Director General of the Southeast Asia Department, ADB; Pavit Ramachandran, Country Director, Philippine Country Office, ADB; Selva Ramachandran, Resident Representative of UNDP Philippines; Marlene Nilsson, Deputy Regional Director, UNEP Asia Pacific; Noor Syafudin, Senior Policy Advisor of the CFMCA Indonesian Co-Chair Team; Lieske Hemert, Policy Advisor of the Ministry of Finance, The Netherlands; and Our esteemed guests and development partners: good morning.

It is a great privilege for the Philippines to host this regional meeting and extend a warm welcome to all of you here in Manila.

For the past five years, the Coalition of Finance Ministers for Climate Action has been a powerful platform uniting policymakers and development partners.

Together, we have pushed the climate conversation to new heights. We have pooled our best practices. And we have honed our fiscal swords to cut through the most daunting of global challenges.

Here in the Philippines, we are no strangers to the economic gymnastics required to balance growth and resilience.

Just like our two-time Olympic gold medalist, we strive to master the complexities of economic development and climate action—to emerge triumphant.

As Finance Ministers, we understand better than most that these two vital agendas are not competing forces on a scale.

Instead, they work in harmony. When done right and contextualized in our own realities, they reinforce each other to ensure the welfare, security, and prosperity of our people.

For us in the Philippines, fiscal stability is our launchpad for the long-term investments needed to make a real and meaningful climate action.

We have in place a Medium-Term Fiscal Program that serves as our overall blueprint for sustainable economic growth while upholding the highest standards of fiscal discipline.

This enables us to prudently finance green infrastructure, support local adaptation projects, educate our people on climate consciousness, create green jobs, and reduce poverty along the way.

For we know all too well, that we cannot achieve overall economic prosperity for Filipinos without boosting climate resilience.

Because climate change is deeply unfair. It strikes the hardest at the poorest. It makes poverty worse. And as climate impacts grow, so too will the difficulty and cost of eradicating poverty in the country. It is the ultimate injustice.

In this quest, we are armed with our National Adaptation Plan and Nationally Determined Contributions Implementation Plan as our playbooks outlining the strategies to fully achieve both our climate and economic objectives.

Our very own People’s Survival Fund is one of our many concrete and innovative climate solutions. This channels vital resources directly to where they are needed the most—to locally tailored and community-led climate adaptation projects.

With the help of our friends in the UK Government, we even assembled our own “Green Force”. They are our very own Avengers accelerating the creation of a sustainable finance ecosystem in the country.

And recognizing that the whole nation must be mobilized, we enacted our Public-Private Partnership Code to expedite sustainable and climate-resilient investments across the Philippine archipelago.

The Department of Finance is also utilizing fiscal policy as a tool to promote a regime that rewards green investments in the country.

A new law is underway that will improve our tax incentives policy and tailor-fit investors’ interests to attract more investments in clean and renewable energy, green infrastructure, sustainable agriculture, and waste-to-energy technologies, among others.

Additionally, our new policy expanding tariff exemptions on electric vehicles puts us at the forefront of green technology and EV manufacturing.

We are also awaiting the passage of a bill imposing an excise tax on single-use plastic bags to cut pollution and adopt more sustainable practices.

Along with these, both the government and the private sector are actively issuing sustainability bonds to finance both green and social projects nationwide.

But our commitment does not end at our borders. Because climate change does not respect boundaries, and neither should our actions. It is equally important that we support and stand by our regional neighbors.

That is why President Ferdinand Marcos, Jr. took decisive action to secure the Philippines’ hosting of the Loss and Damage Fund Board to bring it to our region, right at our doorsteps.

By doing so, we will not only spotlight our achievements but amplify our voices and galvanize our efforts to secure more financial resources for climate action.

With the recent approval of the LDF Board bill by both Houses of our Congress, we eagerly anticipate fulfilling our hosting responsibilities and bringing this Fund to fruition.

With your help, it is our hope that our LDF hosting will serve as the gold standard for climate finance and action, not just in Asia and the Pacific, but all over the world.

Today, we all stand at a crossroads fighting multiple challenges. But in the end, our success will be ultimately measured by how well we protect our peoples’ security, welfare, and prosperity from the most imminent threats of climate change and poverty.

So as we convene today, let us not merely discuss but commit to harness our collective strength, embrace the urgency of our mission, and drive integrated solutions that bring climate action and poverty eradication all together.

Today is a defining moment that will determine the fate of our nations. Let history judge us as the generation that reversed these twin tides, the generation that put an end to delay and inaction.

And let us become the coalition that worked hand in hand in steering the world faster and further on the road to a greener and more prosperous future that the next generations will proudly inherit.

Once again, I thank all of you for your time and commitment. I trust that your stay in Manila will be productive, inspiring, and enjoyable.

Maraming salamat po.