Senator Loren Legarda will attend the 2018 Spring Meetings of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank Group (WBG) from April 18-21, 2018 in Washington, DC, as Alternate Head of the Philippine Delegation, with Budget Secretary Benjamin Diokno as Head of Delegation.
Legarda, Chair of the Senate Committees on Foreign Relations, Finance and Climate Change, was designated by Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) Governor Nestor A. Espenilla, Jr. as Alternate Temporary Governor of the Philippines to the IMF.
Also part of the Philippine Delegation are Finance Undersecretary Gil Beltran, Socioeconomic Planning Undersecretaries Adoracion Navarro and Rolando Tungpalan, and Commissioner Rachel Anne Herrera of the Climate Change Commission.
The Spring Meetings of the IMF and WBG is a venue for central bankers, ministers of finance and development, private sector executives, and academics to discuss issues of global concern, including the world economic outlook, poverty eradication, economic development, and aid effectiveness.
Legarda’s participation ensures that the Philippines will be able to engage these stakeholders in advancing green investments.
“Our economies have been affected by climate change and it will continue to do so if we go business as usual. We must pursue a development path consistent with the 1.5 degrees Celsius global warming limit under the Paris Agreement, not only because it is the best way to protect our people and climate, but also because it will spur sustainable, resilient and inclusive economic growth,” said Legarda, UNISDR Global Champion for Resilience and UNFCCC National Adaptation Plan Champion.
On April 18, Legarda will attend the Second Annual High-Level Strategy Session (HLSS2) on Sustainable, Healthy Cities, and Sustainable Energy Solutions organized by AirQualityAsia (AQA) and US-Asia Institute. She will speak about Parliamentary Leadership on Carbon Reduction Policies – Implementing the Paris Agreement and Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) on Clean Air.
On April 19, Legarda is among the panelists for the IMF Gender Coffee Chat: “Advocating for Women Empowerment: Voices from the Field”, and will attend the “Carbon Pricing Leadership Coalition Third High-Level Assembly” to be chaired by WBG President Jim Yong Kim and IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde, and the “High-Level Roundtable on Maximizing the Development Impact of the Belt and Road Initiative.”
The Senator will also participate in the High-Level Event, “Towards a Blue Economy: Concrete Actions for Addressing the Ocean Health”, which will bring together representatives of World Bank client and donor countries to take stock of progress in improving marine environmental health and to discuss financing mechanisms to support the development of the Blue Economy.
The World Bank Group also organized a Technical Dialogue with the Philippine Delegation on Disaster Risk Reduction (DRM) and Climate Change (CC). The meeting will incorporate highlights of high-potential activities focused on seismic risk and resilience as well as climate change resilience.
On April 20, Legarda will share her thoughts on the World Bank’s long-term engagement on the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps), the Kapit-Bisig Laban sa Kahirapan Comprehensive and Integrated Delivery of Social Services (Kalahi-CIDSS) Program, and the National Household Targeting System for Poverty Reduction (NHTS-PR), during the BWG-organized Technical Dialogue on Social Protection and Community-Driven Development.
The Senator will also speak at the Roundtable with World Resources Institute (WRI) and at the Roundtable at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), and will participate at the forum on “The Future of Resilience: Banking on Cities.”
On the sidelines of the IMF-WBG Spring Meetings, Legarda will meet with IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde; Senator Cory Scott Gardner, Subcommittee Chair on Asia and the Pacific, Senate Committee on Foreign Relations; and Ambassador John Negroponte and Hank Hendrickson of the US-Philippines Society.***