 The Honourable Dato Sri Sethir Haji Ali Bin Apoorn, Excellencies, Ministers, Government Representatives from the Asian Pacific region, distinguished delegates, ladies and gentlemen. First of all, I would like to thank, to express my sincere gratitude to the Government of Brunei Darussalam for the hospitality and hosting this Asia Pacific Rainforest Summit in this beautiful city of Bandar, Sri Begawan. Climate change is one of the greatest global challenges we face in achieving sustainable development and poverty eradication around the world, especially in the most vulnerable developing countries. Timor-Leste, as at least developed state and small island development countries, stands among the most vulnerable countries on the front lines of climate change. As you know, last year the Conference of Parties at the 21st session under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change in Paris forced the historic international climate agreement called the Paris Agreement, with the objective of limiting the global temperature rise to below 1.5 Celsius above pre-industrial levels in order to safeguard food security. Addresses poverty eradication and ensures sustainable development at the global level. One of the critical elements of mitigation of greenhouse gases under Article 5 of the Paris Agreement is reducing emission from deforestation and forest degradation as well as enhancement of carbon sinks through sustainable forest management. Now the world's governments must do what it takes to implement the Paris Agreement. Both mitigation of greenhouse gases and adaptation measures need to be taken at political and technical levels in all recent nations in order to combat climate change and build resilience against the impacts of climate change. Honorable Ministers, ladies and gentlemen, today as we gather here, the Asia-Pacific Grain Forward Summit, we have a useful opportunity to discuss and share our experiences among the government agencies and leaders from this region in order to take real actions of forest conservation and forest management in our region, aiming at enhancing the capacity of forest sinks as it is required to keep warming below 1.5 degrees Celsius under the Paris Agreement. We believe that by enhancing forest conservation in our region, we will tackle climate change on one hand and ensure sustainable development and poverty eradication on the other hand. Excellencies, ladies and gentlemen, Timor-Leste is currently in the process of submitting its intended national-determined contribution, as it called by Paris Agreement. Timor-Leste INDC, or intended national-determined contribution, will be submitted very soon to UNCC secretariat prior to the ratification for the Paris Agreement. In this regard, Timor-Leste has considered most forest conservation as one of the key mitigation elements under its INDC, especially agroforestry and community forestry-integrated land areas. In addition, the INDC of Timor-Leste has also recognized reforestation as part of climate change adaptation with an emphasis on biodiversity and coastal ecosystem resilience, such as mangrove rehabilitation to prevent soil erosion and other impacts from sea level rise. We are ready to cooperate with parties and partners at regional and international levels in order to provide means of implementation for forest rehabilitation and its conservation, including finance, technology, and capacity building. I thank you.