Fiji and New Zealand’s exemplary partnership provides remarkable opportunities to advance sustainable economic development and build stronger future for the communities in Fiji, Pacific and beyond.
This shared commitment was conveyed during a bilateral meeting between the New Zealand’s Deputy Prime Minister and Associate Foreign Affairs (Pacific Region) Minister Carmel Sepuloni and the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Trade, Cooperatives, Small and Medium Enterprises and Communications, Manoa Kamikamica.
The Fiji Government delegation also included the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Finance, Strategic Planning, National Development and Statistics, Biman Prasad and Minister for Rural and Maritime Development, Disaster Management Sakiasi Ditoka.
Accompanying Sepuloni to this meeting were the Minister for Climate Change, James Shaw, Minister of Internal Affairs and Pacific Peoples, Barbara Edmonds, and High Commissioner Charlotte Darlow.
The meeting highlighted the strategic actions that Fiji and New Zealand will take to further enhance “Duavata Partnership” for building strong economic, investment, trade, and tourism connections.
Sepuloni is leading a Pacific Mission visit to Solomon Islands, Fiji, and Tonga.
“Reconnection, resilience and partnership are the focus of the Mission. Pacific Missions provide an invaluable opportunity for New Zealand to showcase the breadth and depth of our engagement with our regional partners. They also provide an opportunity for all of us to reflect on our close ties and the mutual benefit of our political, security, economic and people-to-people links” said Deputy Prime Minister Sepuloni.
This visit speaks to the strong foundation of Fiji and New Zealand’s relations and continued expressions of warmth and generosity from our New Zealand whanau.
On behalf of the Fiji Government and the people of Fiji, the Deputy Prime Minister (DPM) Kamikamica welcomed and thanked Sepuloni for leading an important delegation to Fiji, which demonstrates the strength of Fiji and New Zealand’s friendship and cooperation.
He commended New Zealand’s continued support to Fiji’s socioeconomic development and most recently through the provision of climate change financing, technical support and capacity building which was announced by New Zealand’s Foreign Minister, Honourable Nanaia Mahuta’s during her visit to Fiji last month.
At the same time, Kamikamica reaffirmed Fiji’s commitment to work closely with New Zealand to enhance the levels of cooperation in shared interests such as economic development, climate resilience and regional security.
He said Fiji looks forward for New Zealand’s continued support for realisation of a prosperous and unified Pacific region through the 2050 Strategy for the Blue Pacific Continent.
Reflecting on the recent cooperation, DPM Kamikamica said Fiji was pleased to have been able to assist New Zealand and Vanuatu during their time of need through deployment of personnels from Fiji to assist in the rebuilding efforts from the devastation caused by the recent cyclones.
He further expressed Fiji’s commitment to strengthen efforts with New Zealand in the Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Response (HADR).
The high level meeting was an opportunity to discuss the Fiji Government’s priorities, including how New Zealand’s recently announced budget support and climate finance support can assist with those priorities.
The discussions also highlighted prospects for partnership notably in areas of trade, tourism, investment, labour mobility, defence and security to mention a few.
It reflected on Fiji’s recent Trade and Investment Mission to New Zealand and how Fiji and New Zealand can build on the momentum generated by the visit.
SOURCE: FIJI GOVT/PACNEWS
