STATEMENT

Rosemarie G. Edillon, PhD

Undersecretary, Department of Economy, Planning and Development, Philippines

2025 High-Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development (HLPF)

Townhall Meeting: “Unlocking means of implementation Mobilizing financing and STI for the SDGs”

July 14, 2025, 11:00AM – 1:00PM, UN Headquarters, New York, USA

 

Excellencies, esteemed delegates, ladies and gentlemen,

Mabuhay and warm greetings from the Philippines!

The Philippines remains active in implementing the Addis Ababa Action Agenda (AAAA) recognizing that financing the SDGs demands nothing short of a bold, inclusive, and coordinated response. We are pursuing a coherent national financing framework that taps public, private, and international sources, while aligning resources strategically with our SDG targets.

As part of this effort, we have implemented the foundational elements of Integrated National Financing Framework (INFFs) into our national government planning, budgeting, and infrastructure monitoring to ensure effective financing and service delivery.

We noted that the Fourth International Conference on Financing for Development (FfD4) highlighted the role of science, technology, and innovation (STI) as a catalyst for inclusive and sustainable development. In fact, the Philippines has taken steps to build a dynamic innovation ecosystem; the strategies for which are outlined in the Philippine Development Plan (PDP) 2023-2028, and in greater detail in the National Innovation Agenda and Strategy Document (NIASD) 2023-2032.

Building a dynamic innovation ecosystem begins with ensuring that we have a continuing pool of innovation actors – from R&D specialists, design engineers, product developers and social scientists. Already, we have been offering scholarships for STEM, vocational training and inclusive education, which were also emphasized in FfD4. Next, we need to build credible platforms and safe spaces for collaboration, infrastructure to translate ideas to innovations, and mechanisms to connect innovations to the market. Financing is integrated in this entire innovation cycle. Currently, we are sourcing the funding domestically, but we hope that our innovation ecosystem would also benefit from external financing and partnerships.

With 5 years to go, we need innovations to accelerate inclusive, resilient, and technology-enabled progress towards the SDG.

Let’s keep building a future that works for everyone, powered by science, driven by solidarity.

Maraming salamat. Thank you.

 

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