(as prepared for delivery)

• Your Excellency, Eang Sophallet, Under Secretary of State, Ministry of Environment
• Your Excellency, Dr. Tin Ponlok, Secretary General for the National Council for Sustainable Development
• Mr. Sascha Reebs, First Secretary, German Embassy
• Mr. Thomas Waldraff, Country Director, GIZ
• Excellencies, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen

I am honored to be here to celebrate the culmination of a successful partnership that created the National Adaptation Plan Financing Framework and Implementation Plan. I want to acknowledge the hard work of all our partners, especially the NCSD Department of Climate Change, which led this effort, as well as the important contributions from the line ministries, which participated in the consultations of the draft Financing Framework and the development of the Implementation Plan. 

This work builds upon and aligns with Cambodia’s existing strategies and policies such as the Climate Change Strategic Plan, the Cambodia Nationally Determined Contribution to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, the National Strategic Development Plan, the Climate Change Action Plan, and of course, the National Adaptation Plan. 

The lack of financing is a key barrier to the implementation of climate change adaptation measures in Cambodia. So today, we celebrate the completion of the Financing Framework and Implementation Plan, which brings the National Adaptation Plan closer to execution, improving Cambodia’s access to additional adaptation finance.

The Plan is fundamental to ensuring Cambodia is ready to access and effectively use climate financing. The Framework and Plan will help Cambodia address climate risks in critical sectors like agriculture, health, and water. They provide a much-needed road map for targeting resources towards the most important adaptation priorities in those sectors. The process of creating the Framework and Plan has strengthened the capacity of key institutions in Cambodia to address these issues.

For more than a decade, USAID has supported countries as they move towards low-carbon, climate-resilient development. As one way to achieve this objective, USAID has supported GIZ’s Climate Finance Readiness Programme since 2014. We have worked closely with GIZ for many years, and this partnership continues this record of successful collaboration. Climate Finance Readiness seeks to ensure that climate-related finance is used in a strategic and transformational way. It helps countries shift from small-scale, individual actions to integrated and sustainable large-scale actions. It builds the capacity of host country institutions to efficiently manage financial resources. It also links those resources with the most critical needs, leveraging domestic budgets and private sector resources to complement international funding.

While we have much to celebrate today, Cambodia remains one of the most vulnerable countries in the world to the impacts of a changing climate, characterized by frequent flooding, irregular rainfall and longer periods of drought. These risks can be especially devastating to Cambodia’s economy and the well-being of all Cambodians, and require intervention and investment from both the public and private sectors. Therefore, it is important for us to take advantage of the momentum of the work on the National Adaptation Plan Financing Framework and Implementation Plan, and begin taking action that will be felt in Cambodia’s development in the short-, medium-, and long-term.

We must continue to support access to climate change knowledge and information, strengthen institutions and cross-sector coordination, and improve planning and budget systems. Although this Financing Framework focuses on international financing, in the long run, increased domestic financing is equally important for the sustainability of climate change adaptation activities.

Cambodia is demonstrating a strong resolve to take action to address its vulnerability to climate change, as the work of the National Council for Sustainable Development, the Ministry of Environment, and all the line ministries that contributed to the development of this Framework and Implementation Plan demonstrates. Once again, I would like to acknowledge that hard work, and thank our partners in the Climate Finance Readiness Programme, NCSD, the Ministry of Environment, and GIZ. I look forward to seeing the actions in this Implementation Plan come to fruition!

Thank you.