Ambassador Mylene J. Garcia-Albano receiving the International Award at the 8th Sustainable Finance Awards. From left to right: Atty. Izumi Sato, Bureau of Treasury (BTR) Chief Treasury Operations Officer Jose Carlos M. Sebastian, Ambassador Mylene J. Garcia-Albano, and Research Institute for Environmental Finance (RIEF) Executive Director Yoshihiro Fujii.

18 January 2023 — The Government of the Philippines won the International Award of the 8^th Sustainable Finance Awards in Japan for its issuance of the Samurai Sustainable Sovereign Bond in 2022. The awards were administered by the Research Institute for Environmental Finance (RIEF) a general incorporated association that promotes and educates people about “environmental finance,” a financial approach to solving environmental problems. The target recipients of the awards are financial institutions, etc. that are developing environmental financial products, services, and initiatives in the Japanese financial market

Receiving the award for the Philippines, “The Philippines, led by our President Ferdinand R. Marcos, Jr. will continue to put climate action at the front and center of the Philippines’ pursuit of a robust and sustainable economy. Indeed, sustainable finance plays a critical role in climate action and I would like to use this opportunity to convey my sincere appreciation to the government, finance institutions, investors and people of Japan by being our partners in our green post-pandemic recovery,” Ambassador-designate Mylene J. Garcia-Albano remarked during the awarding ceremony held at the Nihon Press Centre in Tokyo.

It may be recalled that in April 2022, the Philippines launched its first Sustainability Samurai Bonds. According to the Bureau of the Treasury, this is the first ever ASEAN Sustainability bond transaction issued by the Philippines in the Samurai bond market, capturing new investor accounts and demand of more than JPY 70 billion, from an initial target of JPY 50 billion.

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