NZ PM to attend Pacific Islands Forum in Fiji this week [1]
Monday, July 11, 2022 - 22:56. Updated on Thursday, September 8, 2022 - 14:42.
New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern will attend the Pacific Islands Forum Leaders’ Meeting in Fiji this Tuesday to Thursday, the first time Pacific leaders have met face to face since 2019 and coming at a crucial time for the region.
The Prime Minister will participate in a range of meetings throughout the week, culminating in the traditional leaders’ retreat. She will hold bilateral meetings with a number of Pacific leaders and make announcements on climate and aid projects.
“This meeting is about us as a Pacific region establishing our own priorities and working together collectively to achieve them,” Jacinda Ardern said.
“The Pacific is who we are as well as where we are. With a domestic Pasifika population of around 382,000 the challenges our region faces are New Zealand’s too.
“This meeting comes at a critical time for the Pacific, with the region facing climate, environmental, governance, and human development challenges, as well as sharpening geostrategic competition. New Zealand is committed to the Forum as the primary vehicle for addressing these challenges.
“The centrepiece of the forum will be the release of the 2050 Strategy for the Blue Pacific Continent. It delivers the priorities of the Pacific with a unified voice, and acts as the reference point for Pacific regionalism.
“The Pacific is our foreign policy priority, with a strategy of building Pacific resilience. To achieve this we’ve lifted our support to the region by 45 percent over the past three years.
“Climate change has already been identified as the number one issue for the Pacific. It’s an existential threat to many in our Pacific family who have made it clear they want to stay where they are and defend their homes and livelihoods against rising sea levels.
“In response we’ve already increased our climate aid commitment to $1.3 billion over four years with half of that going to the Pacific. This week we will announce our first allocation from this funding.
“COVID-19 has had major health, economic and social impacts across our Pacific region. New Zealand has funded over 1.3 million vaccine doses in the Pacific and provided $325 million in budget support to Pacific economies hit by border closures.
“This forum will be an important opportunity to discuss the ongoing economic challenges we all face, especially as they relate to supply chain issues.
“Our Pacific region has a proud history of responding to and meeting one another’s needs be it environmental, economic, health or security. I look forward to this year’s Forum and the opportunity it brings to sends a clear message that the Pacific is rising to the unique challenges of the 21st century and addressing them in our own Pacific way,” Jacinda Ardern said.