The United Nations Resident Coordinator, Mr. Sanaka Samarasinha, based in Fiji and visiting Nuku'alofa this week, said he held productive discussions with the Tonga Government regarding current and future UN programs.

He made a courtesy call on the Prime Minister Hon. Hu'akavameiliku on 30 November and will return to present his credentials to King Tupou VI next week.

Mr. Samarasinha told Matangi Tonga his visit was focused on bringing the United Nations family to Tonga.

This includes the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, UNDP, WHO, United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction, the International Organization of Migration, and several others.

“We had a very constructive discussion with the Prime Minister on a range of topics, including the COVID-19 response. 

“We are pleased that UN agencies like WHO, UNICEF and the United Nations Population Fund, and others were able to support Tonga to prepare and respond to the pandemic.

“We also discussed the response to the volcanic eruption and tsunami, again with coordination efforts of agencies like UNICEF, UNDP, IOM we were able to help. Importantly, we were able to tap into the UN Central emergency relief fund and immediately made available USD$1 million to Tonga through that particular channel,” he said.

UN's future programs

The UN assistance to Tonga is ongoing and a new plan will be finalised by February.

"We also started to draft a two-year plan for the UN system's assistance to Tonga in line with Tonga's development priorities. We looked at four pillars, people, planet, peace and prosperity.

“This initial draft will be represented next week when I return to Tonga to convene a joint steering committee meeting with the Minister of Foreign Affairs and a number of other ministries. We will to continue working on this plan and by February we will finalise the assistance that the UN will provide to Tonga from across the UN system."

At the moment, there are 10 UN agencies physically present in Tonga

Mr. Samarasinha was appointed as the United Nations Resident Coordinator for the Republic of Fiji in 2018, with multi-country coverage that includes Solomon Islands, Tonga, Tuvalu and Vanuatu.

He was accompanied by Anne Colquhoun from the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.