As prepared for delivery.

• Your Excellency Ambassador Berris Ekinci, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Türkiye, 
• Your Excellency Dr. Fitsum Assefa Adela, Minister of Finance of Ethiopia
• Mr. Ambroise Fayolle, Vice-President of the European Investment Bank 
• Distinguished Leaders from the Private Sector
• Excellencies,  

Thank you for joining this special COP31 edition of the Istanbul Development Dialogues. 

Since 2015, these dialogues have brought UNDP and Türkiye together to tackle the hard questions in development - together. 

I want to thank the Government of Türkiye for a partnership that works at every level: country, regional and global. 

And for hosting a COP that puts implementation centre stage. 

Let me start with an honest observation: Money is not the scarcest thing in this room. Bankable projects are. 

Countries have written ambitious climate plans. Investors have trillions looking for long-term returns. Yet far too little of that capital reaches developing economies.  

Investors cannot put money into a national plan. They invest in programmes and projects: 

With clear rules and risks they can price. 

This requires a fundamental shift in how we engage private investors and businesses. 

This is the challenge the COP31 Presidency’s Climate Implementation BRIDGE is designed to address.  

It is owned by countries. And it connects the dots: linking national policy, institutional capacities, public finance, and private investment directly to delivery on the ground. 

UNDP is proud to help anchor this effort.  

Through our Climate Promise: Forward initiative, working with the UN system, we already support the implementation of climate pledges across more than 100 countries. Scaling up finance is central to this support.  

Across UNDP, we are mobilising the entire climate, development and sustainable finance expertise, including our newly launched Investment Accelerator flagship.  

Together, these capabilities give BRIDGE a robust and comprehensive delivery infrastructure and global network from day one, by connecting national climate priorities with investors and mobilizing finance at scale. 

Our support to countries to scale up finance and unlock private capital is built around four practical pillars: 

1. First, it turns projects into investment pipelines.  

Building on our Climate Promise and sustainable finance infrastructure, we are turning bold climate plans into bankable realities.  

By working with finance ministers, we transform NDCs into investor-ready portfolios designed to unlock sustainable finance at scale. 

2. Second, it de-risks the market.  

Capital goes where policy is predictable. And governance is trusted. 

We combine UNDP’s on-the-ground regulatory and policy support with market intelligence so governments can remove bottlenecks before they scare investors away. 

3. Third, it brings in blended finance at speed.  

By partnering with Development Banks, Development Finance Institutions, and global asset owners, climate funds, we will structure guarantees, risk-sharing instruments, and local-currency solutions with governments. 

 So that investments have both development impact and commercial return. 

4. Finally, we will ensure the dividends show up in people’s lives. 

Every dollar mobilized should show up in people's lives. As electricity in homes. As decent local jobs.  

That work is already up and running. Through the UNDP Climate Promise and the Sustainable Finance Hub, UNDP has helped align and leverage more than US$867 billion for sustainable development and identified nearly 700 SDG investment opportunities across more than 40 countries. 

For instance, Pakistan, one of the BRIDGE countries, is seeking $26 billion in global investment across a pipeline of 35 projects developed with support from the UNDP. 

In Indonesia, another BRIDGE country, a joint UN joint programme helped the government mobilise US $5.7 billion by bringing public systems and capital markets closer together. 

Excellencies,  

Tonight, governments and development banks share this stage with companies that build and finance the real economy. That is exactly the coalition this work needs. 

So my ask is simple:  

Bring one concrete proposal to this conversation, a project or an instrument you are ready to move on. 

Antalya has been called the implementation COP. 

Let's make it the COP where climate plans found their investors.   

Thank you.