Commonwealth Pacific Leaders Affirm Commitment to Building Inclusive and Sustainable Economies

The Commonwealth Pacific Leaders Regional Roundtable meeting convened with concerted commitment to advancing strategic partnerships for inclusive and sustainable economies that are resilient in the face of pandemics, climate change and other global challenges.

This Pacific Leaders Roundtable was one in a series of regional Commonwealth Roundtables in which HRH The Prince of Wales has engaged in partnership with leaders on Economic Recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic; Accelerating Action on Climate Change and Scaling Sustainable Investment Opportunities.

The Roundtable delivered on the opportunity for the Commonwealth’s Pacific Leaders and HRH The Prince of Wales to work in partnership, to accelerate economic recovery and drive global action on the sustainability agenda.

Fiji’s statement was delivered by the Hon. Prime Minister Josaia Voreqe Bainimarama and he was joined by his counterparts across the region to further deliberate and engage with HRH The Prince of Wales in identifying outstanding barriers and actions required to unlock acceleration of the above priorities (scale, debt, incentives, risk capital, concessional and blended finance) and to explore game-changing opportunities emerging from within the Commonwealth that can help drive a more sustainable future.

Prime Minister Bainimarama conveyed his appreciation to His Royal Highness for initiating this important meeting, adding that the COVID-19 pandemic is not just a health crisis, but one with far reaching impacts on social and economic development.

“The setback to the global economy has led to major interruptions leading to widespread unemployment and increased poverty. This is quite evident across the Pacific.”

“These past few weeks have not been easy for my Government and the Fijian people. We fully contained COVID-19 for a year, but this disease has now managed to escape into our communities. We know it will be a long, tough road ahead, but we succeeded once and are confident that we will stop this virus again.”

Highlighting the climate battles faced by the region, Prime Minister said that extreme bio-diversity loss, frequent and intense weather events, and sea-level rise are setting back socio-economic progress that has been painstakingly built over decades.

“Fiji welcomes the carbon-emission commitments made at the recent US Climate Summit by larger developed nations. We salute the United Kingdom for its commitment to embed into law its carbon-emission target of 78% below 1990 levels by 2035. That is wonderful news, but for us, there is no choosing between the battles. We are battling both simultaneously.

“It is evident we will require medium- to long-term concessionary financing targeted to the needs and special circumstances of Pacific states.”

Reaffirming Fiji’s commitment to climate actions, Prime Minister Bainimarama said that Fiji is walking the talk.

“We continue to press on through the creative mobilisation of domestic resources, innovative capital market instruments such as Green Bonds and financing arrangements through bilateral and multilateral partners.

“We have committed to stronger nationally determined contributions under the Paris Agreement. Our National Adaptation Plan maps out a multi-billion-dollar effort to strengthen our climate resilience. We have also committed to plant 30 million trees and sustainably manage our vast ocean space by 2030.”

Further emphasising that a holistic approach is needed, the PM said that we must move toward an inclusive and broad-based economy, build on sustainable blue and green economic models, use nature-based technologies and solutions, and accelerate the move to net-zero carbon emissions.

Prime Minister Bainimarama stated that Fiji has set the path to create a sustainable economy that can accommodate a dynamic private sector, attract investors, facilitate capital and new technology, and support diversification into new sectors.

In closing, the Hon. Prime Minister emphasised long-term sustainability will require greater resources and capacity to fully implement the vision of the Agenda 2030, and renewed the call for greater access to affordable finance.