REMARKS: Hon. Hu’akavameiliku, Prime Minister of Tonga and Forum Chair at the Pacific Resilience Facility Side Event, UNGA79

Excellencies, Distinguished Guests,

Mālō e lelei and good morning,

Thank you very much Honourbale Linda Burney for your welcome remarks and for graciously hosting this Pacific Resilience Facility Side Event.
    
As the Chair of the Pacific Island Forum, I am pleased to speak to a Pacific initiative that aims to address some of the key challenges facing the Forum membership, many of whom are Small Island Developing States, which are access to climate finance, and building resilience into everything that we do.

The Pacific Resilience Facility (PRF) is the Pacific’s way of responding to an overly complicated global financial system struggling to deliver equitable access to climate finance.

It is aligned to Tonga’s theme from our recently held Pacific Islands Forum Leaders meeting of “Transformative Resilient Pasifiki: Build Better now”, highlighting the need to move beyond the narrative, to key transformative actions for Pacific people.
 
The Summit of the Future has made it clear that we are struggling globally to grapple with the ever-escalating planetary challenges, and that the global community is in desperate need of ‘game changing’ initiatives.

The PRF is a Pacific solution to a global challenge.

It is a Pacific-led and owned community-centred regional resilience financing facility, tailored to meet the Pacific’s specific needs.

The Pacific Resilience Facility is also a political expression of the Pacific Islands Forum’s unity, solidarity and collective desire to rethink how we can sustainably support vulnerable communities through a transformative grant investment model.

Pacific Finance Ministers will participate in the PRF Council as the governing body for the PRF. I acknowledge the commitment by the President of the World Bank to working with the Pacific Island Forum to strengthen the PRF’s investment governance. Sound investment of the resources provided will be critical to the Facility’s success.

I am also proud to confirm, as the Prime Minister of Tonga, that Forum Leaders have confirmed the Kingdom of Tonga as the country of domicile for the PRF.

In this respect, the Pacific Islands Forum aims to build the global visibility of the Pacific Resilience Facility as well as momentum towards a global pledging event in 2025 for the PRF.

I take this opportunity to convey the sincerest appreciation of the Pacific Islands Forum Leaders to UN Secretary General Guterres, who, in his engagement with Forum Leaders last month, expressed his support to help mobilise international resources for the Pacific Resilience Facility.

I also take this opportunity to thank our valued partners, the Governments of Australia, Saudi Arabia, Turkey and the United States for their respective pledges to capitalise the PRF. I also thank our partners who have offered financial support to set up the PRF, including Australia, the United States, the United Kingdom and China. And I also recognise in particular, our own member country Nauru for their pledge to the PRF, demonstrating their commitment and belief in our Pacific-led initiative

The PRF aims to raise USD500 million by the end of 2025 and be ready to deliver for Pacific communities in 2026.

USD 111 million will be needed to reach the first target of USD 250 million by 1 January 2025.

The Pacific Islands Forum will seek to raise another USD 250 million in 2025 in preparation to launch the first call for project proposals by 2026.

Our long-term target for the PRF is USD 1.5 billion to confront the 1.5-degree world we are likely to be living in.

The target for the PRF may be modest in comparison to the real quantum for adaptation, but we cannot wait for the world to address the root causes of climate change.  

As resilient Pacific people, and as we head towards the cyclone season for our Blue Pacific region, we know the risks of delayed action. That is why we must stand up the Pacific Resilience Facility to help build the resilience of our vulnerable communities.  

The Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat, in close consultation with Forum member governments, will soon finalise necessary technical and legal arrangements for the PRF.  These are targeted for completion by the first quarter of 2025, which will enable us to head towards a Global Pledging Conference next year.

I wish to again acknowledge the UN Secretary General’s support towards the convening of this Global Pledging Conference in 2025.

To raise the visibility of the PRF, plans are underway to share our story and progress made at high-level events this year, including in the margins of COP29 in Azerbaijan.

As a credible instrument that will create big impacts in the lives of the most vulnerable Pacific communities, we look forward to engaging with all our partners in ensuring the success of the Pacific Resilience Facility.  

I thank you.