Youth representatives and leaders from five maritime islands in the Eastern division are raising issues they face back home in a stakeholders forum in Suva.

The youth representatives from Lau, Kadavu, Rotuma, Koro and Batiki hope the two day meet will ensure relevant stakeholders assist their villages and communities to iron out problems faced daily.

Drugs, non-communicable diseases, agriculture, bio security threats, climate change and fisheries are also some of the concerns that have been raised by the youth representatives.

The Ministry’s Permanent Secretary Josefa Sana says it has given its assurance that the maritime islands will not be isolated.

“The issue that we have in the maritime islands is the capacity. We need to build up their capacity. To do income generating projects to build them to be good leaders. And today they’ve requested that leadership be provided to some of the youth in the villagers. And also build capacity to run things in their villages.”

The Ministry is also encouraging the youth to begin taking up initiatives for themselves and not wait around for the government’s assistance.

The forum ends today.