• His Highness, Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al-Nahyan, President of the United Arab Emirates
• Excellencies, Heads of State and Government
• United Nations Secretary-General, António Guterres
• Sultan Ahmed Al-Jaber, President of the 28^th Conference of Parties
• Distinguished Ladies and Gentlemen

To begin, I express my gratitude to His Highness Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al-Nahyan, for hosting us in the United Arab Emirates.

We stand at a critical juncture in the global effort to address climate change.

Temperatures are rising at an alarming rate, and already, reports indicate that 2023 is set to become the hottest year ever recorded.

Developing countries cannot pick up the slack, for countries that continue to maintain their high emissions.

We also want to fast-track the energy transition, but this double standard must end.

The litmus test for this meeting is to agree on the loss and damage fund.

The fund should be adequately resourced and grant-based, so that vulnerable countries do not have to pile on more debt, in order to invest in mitigation and adaptation.

Rwanda, as Commonwealth Chair-in-Office, supports the development of a Multidimensional Vulnerability Index by the United Nations, in partnership with Small Island Developing States.

What Africa wants is to contribute solutions, as equal partners.

That is a position we made very clear, at the recent Africa Climate Summit in Kenya, under the leadership of President William Ruto.

In Rwanda, we continue to work closely with the private sector, to become a preferred destination for green investment.

We do this mainly through our green investment facility, Ireme Invest, launched last year at COP-27.

To this end, I commend the engagement of His Majesty King Charles III and the Sustainable Markets Initiative, to build a more sustainable future.

Working together, we can take a decisive step forward to meet our agreed climate targets.

I thank you for your kind attention.