Remarks of
Hon. Enrique A. Manalo
Secretary for Foreign Affairs
Media Briefing:
High-Level Conference of Middle Income Countries
24 April 2025
Members of the press corps,
Colleagues and friends.
Thank you for joining this briefing.
The over 100 middle income countries in the world, the Philippines among them, are powerful symbols of promise and potential, and also resilience amidst vulnerability. This is especially true in this period of transformative shifts in the global landscape.
As host to 75 percent of the world’s population, we must keep to the path of growth and guard the gains we have achieved. To falter on our tracks is not an option.
The Philippines and our 18 partners in the Like Minded Group for MICs, are bound by a common aim to shape a more enabling environment to help middle income countries to sustain our growth path. This Conference advances the Group’s objective to pursue concrete solutions to address shared challenges of MICs such as inequality, climate vulnerability, access to technology, financing, and innovation, among others.
At the heart of it, this common purpose is about shaping a more equal world and fairer international system. This is more pertinent in this period when dramatic shifts highlight the compelling centrality of multilateralism as a platform for fostering dialogue and cooperation. President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. has called the international rules-based order as a ballast in an age of change and transformation.
The Philippines, as one of Asia’s fastest-growing economies, finds itself at pivotal crossroads. We are shifting economic gears along the track of becoming an upper-middle-income country by 2026, as we manage climate risks, and address hurdles to investing more in our people, institutions, and infrastructure. Secretary Balisacan and our economic managers have addressed these themes and our policy approaches in many fora. This Conference underlines that we share with many MICs the need for refitted support and assistance that are more targeted to our evolving needs and contexts. Outdated metrics and models in development and financing assistance must go. There are more robust formulas and redesigned toolkits to consider.
At the same time, this Conference acknowledges that middle income countries such as the Philippines are well positioned to take on a bigger role - both economically and politically - in the global stage. United in our numbers, we enjoy considerable influence in shaping global discussions and redefining the 21st century development paradigm as we become more and more agents, rather than mere recipients, of new generation partnerships.
In this global landscape, the Philippines is ever conscious of its role as a “partner, pathfinder, and peacemaker”.
In hosting this Conference, we are being true to the Philippine legacy as a vanguard of multilateralism and champion of the UN, being one of the 51 founding members. We believe that nations must step up and stand for multilateralism as a lynchpin for forging growth and transformation amidst a world beset by turmoil and rivalries.
The Philippines will assume the Chairship of the Like-Minded Group of Middle-Income Countries at the United Nations, succeeding Morocco. Our aim as Chair is to rally middle income countries to become a unified voice in the global stage, to advocate for more support and partnership, and to be responsible contributors to peace and progress of nations.
This is a defining moment for middle-income countries to emerge, not as passive beneficiaries of global progress, but as dynamic architects of a more inclusive, resilient, and just world.
The DFA and our partner agencies such as the new Department for Development and the Department of Finance, have worked closely since last year with UN partners, UNESCAP, UNDP, UNIDO, and the UN Resident Coordinator’s Office in the Philippines, in planning for what we expect would be insightful conversations that would drive meaningful action. We have also worked closely in New York with the Kingdom of Morocco and the Like-Minded Group of Middle-Income Countries to ensure that we have a solid outcome document to guide our further steps ahead.
[I recognize the presence here of our Permanent Representative Antonio M. Lagdameo].
We invite you all to follow the Conference.
Thank you.