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PH Cites Good Governance As Good Economics In Financing For Development Conference

Wednesday, July 22, 2015 - 13:15
 
 
PH Cites Good Governance As Good Economics In
 Financing For Development Conference

National Treasurer Roberto B. Tan speaking before the General Debate of the 3rd International Conference on Financing for Development.

National Treasurer Roberto B. Tan speaking before the General Debate of the 3rd International Conference on Financing for Development.

ADDIS ABABA, 17 July 2015 – “Good governance is good economics.” This was the message highlighted by National Treasurer Roberto B. Tan at the 3rd International Conference on Financing for Development, held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia from 13 to 16 July 2015.

Speaking at the Conference’s General Debate, Treasurer Tan said that “the Philippines’ vibrant economic performance in the recent years has demonstrated to us the importance of sustaining sound macroeconomic fundamentals, partnering with the private sector and the civil society, investing in our people, harnessing foreign flows including migrant remittances, and upholding transparency and good governance.“

He also emphasized that financing for development, to have more impact, “needs to be in tandem with good governance.”

Noting that the Philippines’ high vulnerability to climate change and natural disasters and global developments and challenges have made it more challenging to achieve inclusive growth, Treasurer Tan stressed the need of developing countries for partnerships to enhance access to adequate and coherent support for capacity building, developing technology and expertise, and instituting better financial mechanisms.

He also welcomed the establishment by the Conference of a Technology Facilitation Mechanism (TFM) to promote the development, transfer and dissemination of clean and environmentally sound technologies and called attention to the need for coordinated policy on easier and cheaper access to highly demanded technologies, particularly those covered by costly intellectual property rights. In this regard, he stressed that climate financing should be in addition to Official Development Assistance (ODA).

 
The Philippine Delegation to the Conference, which included Congressman Rufus B. Rodriguez

Emphasizing that migrant workers contribute to economic opportunities and growth of both source and destination countries, Treasurer Tan called for concrete measures to improve migrant workers protection and rights, and decrease remittance costs. He added that the Philippines is ready to share best practices and lessons learned in managing migration and engagement with diaspora.

The Philippines also co-sponsored, together with Japan and Ethiopia, a panel discussion on “Finance and the promotion of quality infrastructure,” in which Treasurer Tan discussed the initiatives of the Philippines in infrastructure development, including on country experience on Public Private Partnership and current hosting of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC). In addition, it co-sponsored with Switzerland a panel discussion on how stolen assets and funds recovered by source countries can be used for sustainable development, with particular focus on the Marcos assets.

During the conference, the Addis Tax Initiative was also launched wherein the Philippines was among the 29 countries which shared the move to step up efforts “to enhance the mobilization and effective use of domestic resources and to improve the fairness, transparency, efficiency and effectiveness of their tax systems.”

The Conference adopted the Addis Ababa Action Agenda, which provides a framework for financing development from all sources, both public and private, and domestic and international. It is intended to support the sustainable development goals to be adopted at the Post-2015 Development Summit, scheduled to be held on 25-27 September 2015 in New York.

The United Nations reported that the Addis Ababa Action Agenda is “a comprehensive framework to guide policies that will mobilize financial resources, as well as the launch of new initiatives to finance the achievement of the proposed sustainable development goals, including on social welfare, access to clean energy, and greater cooperation on tax issues.”END