Yokwe and warm greetings from the Republic of the Marshall Islands.

I commend to you this Rebbelib 2050, our revised National Transport Decarbonisation Framework.

Our ancestors were renowned for their ability to navigate over a vast ocean with fast, appropriate, and efficient vessels. A rebbelib is what our ancestors called the charts they made from pandanus and shells to teach our collective learned experience in navigation and wayfinding. Rebbelib 2050 is our framework for the needed transition that RMI and our neighbors must collectively undertake to decarbonize our transport and maintain our essential connectivity. Rebbelib 2050 is designed to support our National Strategic Plan NPS2030 and integrate our transport planning within the overall national climate crisis response.

Rebbelib 2050 is our revised National Transport Decarbonisation Framework.

It provides a clear pathway forward, building on the work that has been achieved since the Majuro Declaration on Climate Leadership in 2013. On behalf of the MCST Board I applaud and congratulate all those that have contributed to this revised Framework.

The MCST Framework is designed from a Pacific country perspective. Due to its centrality to all facets of well-being and connectivity for our country, sea transport is the first and most logical priority, but the MCST has been built to address all transport sub-sectors. It encompasses both domestic transition, as signaled in our updated 2020 NDC.

The release of the International Panel on Climate Change AR6 report has provided a timely reference point to revisit our initial planning, review our progress, to learn from the lessons of the work RMI and our partners have undertaken to date, and re-calibrate our rebbelib for the next stage in our transition voyage. Cabinet has reconfirmed the MCST Framework as our national strategy for transition, the task of the MCST Board is to oversee its successful implementation. I invite you all to join us on this journey.

Kommoltata