Fiji Engages in Bilateral Dialogues to Advance the Sustainable Development of Blue Economy

The Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Ambassador Dr. Satyendra Prasad led a Fijian delegation to the Sustainable Blue Economy Conference, in Nairobi, Kenya this week from 26th to 28th November, 2018.

The Blue Economy Conference, co-hosted by the Governments of Kenya, Japan and Canada is the first Conference on the Blue Economy focusing on Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) 14 since the Oceans Conference which was co-hosted by Fiji and Sweden in 2017.

The Conference was opened by Kenyan President Hon Uhuru Kenyatta. In his opening address President Kenyatta expressed concern that climate change is challenging the sustainability of global aquatic resources. President Kenyatta also outlined several measures that the Government of Kenya is undertaking as a reflection of their commitment to a Sustainable Blue Economy.

The Conference outlined nine (9) key areas of focus on sectoral implementations of the Blue Economy including climate change, food security, maritime transport, women, employment, fisheries, cities and infrastructure, sustainable energy and people, culture and communities.

Ambassador Prasad delivered a statement on behalf of the Fijian Government, outlining Fiji’s progress and achievements emanating out of the Oceans Conference commitments in 2017 and its commitment towards a Sustainable Blue Economy.

Ambassador Prasad emphasized the importance of the Blue Economy Agenda in calling for greater multilateralism. He also called on other countries to continue to work towards the achievement of all the targets under the Sustainable Development Goals. Fiji is advancing the development of its blue economy through innovation, new technologies, innovative financing instruments and partnerships between communities and government.

Dr Prasad highlighted that the Blue Economy holds the greatest promise in helping to promote social inclusion and gender equality across maritime and coastal communities, Fiji needs to bring together its fisheries, food technologies, banking, private sector together to make further and deeper progress.

Fiji’s Permanent Representative to United Nations, Dr Satyendra Prasad also said the full potential of Fiji’s blue economy will be realized through the energy, talent and commitment of our young people to embrace the responsibility as stewards of some 1 million square miles that make up our large ocean state of Fiji.

The Conference was also an opportunity for the Fijian Delegation to hold bilateral dialogues with various development partners from the UK, Canada, Norway, and Kenya.

Fiji’s Government is focused on assisting our young people to enhance their skills in oceanography, marine science, resource economics, oceans data science, marine genetics, geospatial planning, frontier technologies to give us our ‘moon shot’ in driving forward our blue economy agenda.