(Pleasantries)
On behalf of the Philippine Government, I express my deepest gratitude to the World Bank, the Asian Development Bank, and the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank for extending a total of 1.2 billion US dollars in financing for the procurement of safe and effective COVID-19 vaccines for the Filipino people.
Under these loans, our multilateral partners will help us purchase the vaccines through their stringent procurement rules and guidelines. They will pay the vaccine suppliers directly. The financing packages will also follow global best practices on safeguard measures.
The prompt and substantial financing extended by our multilateral partners will help accomplish the government’s target to inoculate at least 70 million Filipinos, or 100 percent of our adult population. We are committed to accelerate the rollout of our vaccination program so that we can safely open up our economy and restore the jobs of our people.
We appreciate our multilateral partners’ responsiveness and flexibility in providing appropriate and timely financing support to cater to our specific needs during this pandemic. They stood side by side with us throughout this battle by giving us the ample ammunition we need to quickly recover from this health crisis.
Our multilateral partners’ swift response to our call for support reflects their confidence in the Philippines’ capability to effectively implement our COVID-19 response measures, including our national vaccination program.
I thank the teams that worked tirelessly to finalize these loan agreements for our vaccine procurement. For those involved in the negotiations, I commend all of you for your heroic effort.
Again, I express our heartfelt thanks to the World Bank, the Asian Development Bank, and the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank for their continued support to the Filipino people during this extremely difficult time.
We shall soon prevail over this crisis. We will win back our growth momentum and rebuild the economy our people deserve. Our collective action and the continuing support of our multilateral partners will help us in accomplishing these goals.
Thank you.
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