Aotearoa New Zealand Foreign Affairs Minister Nanaia Mahuta, recently reaffirmed her commitment to working with the new Government of Fiji on issues of shared importance, including on the prioritisation of climate-change and sustainability.
Fiji and Aotearoa New Zealand’s close relationship is underpinned by the Duavata Partnership which helps shape how the two countries’ support each other, framing how the two nations work together to support regional institutions, regional solidarity, and to find regional solutions to regional challenges, such as defence and security.
“In a meeting with Fiji Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka we discussed our countries’ areas of joint ambition; both in terms of our direct country-to-country cooperation, and as a unified Pacific whanau,” Minister Mahuta said. “Aotearoa New Zealand is demonstrating our whanaungatanga, by allocating NZ$20 million in flexible climate finance to support Fiji to deliver on its own climate-change priorities; an allocation that will assist in building — and strengthening — Fiji’s resilience to the impacts of climate change.
“The investment enables us to support clean energy projects in developing countries and provide greater economic resilience to our region, by ensuring buildings are able to withstand more damaging storms, crops are resilient to droughts, floods and new pests, and communities are protected from sea-level-rise and storm surges.
“It’s important to Aotearoa New Zealand that Pacific partners were supported to build climate resilience on their own terms. We support building climate resilience at home and in our neighbourhood because the economic and people issues climate change presents to our partners have flow on effects for our people to people links and our own economic security.
“This is a central principle in the strategy that guides our climate finance investment: that we act as a genuine partner, in ways that lift ambition and magnify the impact of the action taken.”
The $20 million allocation is a drawdown on the $1.3 billion committed to supporting combatting climate change in the region.
As well as the climate-finance commitment, Aotearoa New Zealand is allocating an additional $10 million in general budget support, to assist Fiji to deliver on its social and economic development priorities.