Minister for Economy, Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum [Source: Parliament of the Republic of Fiji]

Australia’s Monash University is keen to establish a joint “Pacific Climate Change Research Centre with Fiji National University”.

The centre will offer high-quality research opportunities that produce world-leading climate change mitigation and adaptation issues.

It will also provide high-quality training and capacity-building for policymakers in the Pacific.

Minister for Economy, Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum, says this collaboration will benefit Fiji through engagement with one of the leading global universities.

The collaboration will give its students and researchers direct access to major funding partners like DFAT, JICA, AusAID, NZAid, EU, ADB, and others. It will produce Pacific experts who help the world meet this challenge because it should be Pacific people who lead on an issue that impacts us more severely than anyone in the world.

Sayed-Khaiyum says the research centre will be funded initially through seed funding from Monash to fund and host the centre director.

He adds that other funding will be secured from donors such as DFAT, AusAID, NZAid, JICA, and the Fijian government.