A weeklong program of activities for the Fiji-UN 40th anniversary began yesterday with church services across the country.

At Lautoka’s Coronation Church, the event was attended by the Minister for Youth and Sports – Laisenia Tuitubou.

He was accompanied by the Permanent Secretary for Foreign Affairs – Major General Iowane Naivalurua as well as the Commissioner Western Lieutenant Colonel Manasa Tagicakibau among other former servicemen and women and their families.

Speaking at the service, Maj-Gen. Naivalurua highlighted some of the achievements of the Fijian peacekeepers and the journey over the last 40 years as a nation.

With the theme ’Fiji’s Sacrifice for Global Peace’, the commemoration, the first of its kind to remember those who have served not only in the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) but in peacekeeping deployments around the globe.

Fiji has been participating with the UNIFIL since June 1978.