Economy Minister says it’s critical to invest in health and education.

This is a means to ensure human capital is taken care of in addition to developing more inclusive societies.

Speaking at the World Bank Human Capital Pacific Summit in Nadi, Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum elaborated on the need for all voices to be given a space to be heard.

“We need to be able to too and when I talk about building an inclusive society, we need to have the significant proportion of the population having a say in the landscape in your country and sometimes political leaders, policy makers don’t’ necessarily tap into these knowledge base that exists, don’t actually tap into a forum that makes you provide them the opportunity to be able speak out.”

The meeting included several Pacific Finance Ministers who came together to respond to the World Bank’s call for increased investments in human capital which is the knowledge, skills, and health that people accumulate over their lives.

Last October, the World Bank launched a global Human Capital Project – an accelerated effort to assess the progress countries have made in building human capital and help countries invest more effectively in their people.

World Bank’s Vice President for the East Asia Pacific, Victoria Kwakwa says committing more and better investments for people is fundamental for the future prosperity of Pacific economies.