29 April 2026, Seoul. Secretary Rolando U. Toledo of the Department of Budget and Management met with Minister Hong Keun Park of the Ministry of Planning and Budget of the Republic of Korea on 31 March 2026 at the Shilla Hotel in Seoul, on the sidelines of the Public Expenditure Management Network in Asia (PEMNA) High-Level Plenary Conference. Philippine Ambassador to the Republic of Korea Bernadette Therese Fernandez formed part of the Philippine delegation. 

The meeting reaffirmed the continuing cooperation between the Philippines and the Republic of Korea in public financial management, infrastructure development, fiscal transparency, and digital transformation. 

Secretary Toledo conveyed appreciation for the ROK Government’s support for priority development projects in the Philippines and welcomed further exchanges on the Republic of Korea’s experience in strategic fiscal planning, digital budget systems, open government, and the dBrain-KFMIS, or Korean Financial Management Information System. 

The Embassy likewise expressed its readiness to support closer engagement between Philippine and Korean institutions in the context of PEMNA, including possible exchanges on KFMIS and related digital public financial management tools, building on earlier Philippine benchmarking of the Korea ON-line E-Procurement System (KONEPS), particularly where such cooperation may help strengthen PEMNA’s practical impact, visibility, and value as a platform for peer learning on sound fiscal management. END