Prime Minister Voreqe Bainimarama during the Commonwealth Pacific Leaders Regional virtual meeting which included Prince Charles.
Prime Minister Voreqe Bainimarama says while Fiji is battling COVID-19, the battle of climate change continues to exist.
PM Bainimarama was speaking at the Commonwealth Pacific Leaders Regional Roundtable, which included Prince Charles.
Bainimarama says we are in a global crisis, adding the pandemic is not just a health crisis but also brings with it social and economic crisis with far-reaching consequences.
He says the setback to the global economy has led to major interruptions leading to widespread unemployment and increased poverty and this can be seen across the Pacific.
PM Bainimarama told the top brass of the Commonwealth that the past few weeks has not been easy for his government and the Fijian people.
He says after having contained COVID-19 for a year, Fiji is again fighting a battle but is confident that our country will stop this virus again.
Highlighting climate change, Bainimarama says our region is facing extreme bio-diversity loss, frequent and intense weather events, and sea-level rise which are setting back socio-economic progress that has been painstakingly built over decades.
Fiji has also welcomed the carbon-emission commitments made at the recent US Climate Summit by larger developed nations.
Bainimarama has saluted the United Kingdom for its commitment to embed into law its carbon-emission target of 78% below 1990 levels by 2035.
The PM says Fiji is walking the talk and it is evident we will require medium to long-term concessionary financing targeted to the needs and special circumstances of Pacific states.
Fiji says it 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.
He says Fiji has committed to stronger nationally determined contributions under the Paris Agreement and the country 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.
