President Kanda, the Pacific faces overlapping crises — climate change, debt pressure, and slow growth. What is ADB’s top priority in the Pacific right now and how is the bank helping address these crises?
I was very pleased to have visited Fiji last week, my second visit to the country in three years.
The Asian Development Bank’s top priority in the Pacific is scaling for impact through a holistic approach, recognising that resilience, fiscal stability, and economic growth are inseparable and interrelated. We are focused on supporting sound public financial management, investing in quality infrastructure, and deepening the private sector to ensure sustainable growth across the Blue Pacific. My meetings with Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka and Minister of Finance, Commerce and Business Development Esrom Immanuel reaffirmed our shared commitment to these goals.
To address these overlapping crises, ADB is providing unprecedented financial support, having committed US$1.3 billion to Fiji since 1972, with more than half of this amount—US$675 million—provided just since 2020 to help navigate global shocks. Furthermore, since 2022, we have increased access to concessional loans and grants to help Fiji respond to national emergencies and build buffers against future climate disasters.
Between 2019 and 2023, ADB was the largest development partner for Fiji, providing 26 percent of the total US$2.3 billion in official development finance received. We are the leading development partner in water supply and sanitation as well as transport and have focused on budget support while actively aligning our assistance with the Fiji National Development Plan (2025–2029) to restore macroeconomic confidence and drive private-sector-led growth.
To better serve the region, we signed a new Partnership Agreement with the Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat (PIFS) on 20 February to deepen our collaboration on climate action and regional economic integration, and we officially opened our upgraded regional hub in Suva. Since 2022, we have more than doubled our personnel footprint to 82 people to serve seven Pacific countries better, faster, and with greater local insight.
By having more experts living and working in the Pacific, we can engage in smarter dialogue and deliver results faster, demonstrating our commitment to a more prosperous and resilient Pacific that can withstand any shock.
Q2: How does ADB ensure that its projects deliver real benefits to ordinary Pacific communities — not just governments and institutions?
Development is fundamentally about improving the daily lives and well-being of people. We ensure our projects deliver direct benefits by strengthening the basic services that communities rely on the most, ranging from state-of-the-art health facilities to affordable, clean energy. For example, in Fiji, ADB is supporting a major overhaul of the Colonial War Memorial Hospital, which serves as a regional public good. To accomplish this, ADB will cofinance the hospital’s upgrade with the World Bank under the Full Mutual Reliance Framework and stands ready to discuss additional support as implementation progresses.
Outside of Fiji, we are delivering clean, affordable energy in Solomon Islands by supporting the construction of the 15-megawatt Tina River Hydropower Project. Once completed in 2028, this plant is expected to deliver clean and affordable energy that will provide around 70 percent of Honiara’s electricity needs. Alongside the hydropower plant, ADB will help build an access road and improve the livelihoods of local people, who make up 14 percent of the total population of the Solomon Islands.
Whether we are modernising a regional hospital in Suva or providing reliable electricity to citizens in Honiara, our focus remains squarely on results that matter for the lives of Pacific people.
Q3: What is ADB doing to support women and young people, who are critical to the Pacific’s future but often left behind?
Women and youth are the hope and the primary drivers of the Pacific’s future prosperity, and ADB is broadening their opportunities by improving access to finance and investing in technically focused education. We are moving beyond general support to targeted interventions to ensure the next generation has the job-ready skills needed to thrive in a modern, increasingly digital regional economy.
Empowering women is essential for fostering economic growth and enhancing social development. Gender is one of our most important priorities and we integrate it into all our projects. We also lead the way among development partners in supporting women and girls. For instance, ADB recently committed US$3.9 million to a private company in Fiji that provides finance specifically to women-led small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). More broadly across our portfolio, we mandate gender-inclusive designs in infrastructure projects to guarantee safe and equitable access for women and girls.
Regarding future skills, we are financing Technical and Vocational Education (TVET) across the Pacific region, ensuring curriculums align with industry needs. During my visit to the University of the South Pacific Solomon Islands campus, I saw the facilities ADB supported to support the 4,000 students currently studying there. This follows a visit I made to the USP Fiji campus two years ago.
By investing in people today, we are securing the Pacific of tomorrow and remain committed to an inclusive region where every woman and young person is empowered to lead.
Q4: Infrastructure is vital for development, but Pacific countries are small and remote. How does ADB ensure its infrastructure projects are both affordable and resilient?
Providing infrastructure in the Pacific can be challenging due to the region’s remoteness, small populations, and frequent and severe natural disasters, but also rewarding. We specifically design projects to be affordable, resilient, and suited to small island contexts. Critically, we have modernised our approach to prioritise “best value2 over the “lowest bid,” ensuring our investments deliver long-term benefits while withstanding the region’s frequent natural hazards.
We reformed our procurement policy, which came into effect in January 2026, mandating the use of Merit Point Criteria to emphasise the importance of quality for all internationally advertised tenders. By weighting quality at 50%, we are shifting the focus to “best value,” ensuring our investments deliver durable, high-quality outcomes and long-term value for money throughout an asset’s entire lifecycle.
To ensure long-term sustainability, we are aggressively addressing the “build-deteriorate-rebuild” cycle by strengthening government planning for operations and maintenance (O&M). Recognising that sustainable maintenance can cost five times as much as initial construction in this remote region, our projects now include long-term asset management components to protect these investments. For example, in Fiji, we have committed to replacing vulnerable bridges with climate-resilient structures that keep communities connected during extreme weather.
Ultimately, we are moving from short-term fixes to building infrastructure that lasts, creating high-quality, resilient transport and energy links that will serve Pacific communities for generations.
Q5: What roles do renewable energy and digital connectivity play in ADB’s Pacific strategy?
New technologies are transformative game-changers for the Pacific, and we are turning geographic isolation into digital connection and energy independence through landmark renewable energy projects, national grid ID systems, and regional submarine cables.
Regarding renewable energy, our flagship Tina River Hydropower project in Solomon Islands, which I mentioned in my previous answer, is a game-changer for renewable energy, set to lower electricity costs and dramatically reduce greenhouse gas emissions once the 15-megawatt plant is complete in 2028.
Regarding digital connectivity, ADB is working with the Reserve Bank of Fiji to design a trusted national digital identification framework. Once implemented, this framework will significantly boost economic productivity and financial inclusion by making it easier and safer for citizens to access banking, payments, and social protection programmes.
We are also driving private sector innovation. In Fiji, I witnessed a demonstration by Kahuto Pacific, a local company utilising a locally-led geospatial data platform to improve climate resilience planning. This business is supported by ADB Frontier funding, an innovative initiative which provides capital to smaller companies with growth potential, demonstrating how digital tools can democratize access to critical data.
Additionally, last week ADB signed a financing package to support the design, build, and installation of the 411-kilometer Tamtam submarine cable connecting Vanuatu and New Caledonia. This submarine cable project is the first arranged under ADB’s Wayfinder (Pacific) Program, another financing initiative aiming to accelerate private sector development using blended concessional finance to de-risk projects and attract investors.
From digital identity and regional connectivity, we are committed to a more connected, sustainable future and are helping the Pacific turn technology into a tool for prosperity.
Q6: Pacific governments often say capacity constraints slow project delivery. How is ADB addressing this challenge so countries can lead their own development?
We are addressing this challenge by seeking to both build and supplement capacity over an extended period to promote effective project delivery. ADB is shifting from being a distant partner to a hands-on advisor that works side-by-side with national agencies.
We are institutionalising knowledge so countries can lead their own transformation by nearly doubling our field presence in the Pacific over the last five years. Specifically, ADB has substantially increased its Pacific-based staff from 77 to 126 between 2021 and 2025 to provide hands-on support and faster delivery.
We will leverage our new Pacific Subregional Office facilities in Fiji and expanded staff presence to enhance collaboration, share knowledge on regional priorities, and strengthen coordination with regional organisations like the Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat. We have also enhanced staff presence in Vanuatu with a new Principal Operations Specialist.
Furthermore, ADB proudly supports long-standing, multi-partner regional technical assistance initiatives, such as the Pacific Regional Infrastructure Facility hosted at our Suva office.
To promote local ownership, we place an increased emphasis on engaging local contractors in project delivery, which builds the domestic workforce’s skills and business capability while keeping economic benefits within the country.
We also deployed a private sector investment specialist to Fiji from 2024 to work directly with local businesses, focusing on mitigating market risks and preparing local SMEs for investment and growth.
By bringing our expertise and our people closer to the field, we are empowering the Pacific to lead its own development and remain committed to building the skills required for countries to shape their future.
