Honourable Speaker,

Honourable Prime Minister,

Honourable Leader of the Opposition,

Honourable Members of Parliament,

Representatives of the Governments of Australia, New Zealand and Japan,

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Ni sa bula vinaka. A very good morning to you.

Allow me to start by congratulating the Fiji Parliament for the completion of the “Guidance Note for the Standing Committees of the Fiji Parliament”.

I am delighted to see the progress made by the Fiji Parliament in engaging with SDGs. In 2017, you made history by being the first in the world to carry out a self-assessment exercise on the SDGs.

Between 2015 – 2018, upon request from parliament’s leadership, Members of Parliament benefited from several seminars on the SDGs and key development issues.

The launch of this guidance note today is another significant development in the Fiji Parliament’s pursuit to embrace the vision of development, equity and peace embodied in the SDGs.

The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) came into effect in January 2016, and they will continue to guide UNDP policy and funding until 2030. As the lead UN development agency, UNDP is uniquely placed to help implement the Goals through our work.

It is widely acknowledged that good governance processes need to be inclusive and participatory. To engage meaningfully, citizens need to know about Agenda 2030, and local actors (including Parliament, civil society, private sector, and communities as a whole) have to be engaged in a meaningful way and play their role in implementation.

The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development recognizes the role of parliaments in holding government accountable for commitments to eradicate poverty and achieve sustainable development.  As such, this mandate offers you as MPs an opportunity to increase your engagement in national development and monitoring progress towards the SDGs, therefore ensuring better development outcomes for your citizens.

Standing Committee members are uniquely positioned in parliament to provide champion the SDGs and provide effective oversight of SDG progress. This Guidance Note provides Committees with the necessary direction to integrate the SDGs into their everyday work: by mainstreaming the SDGs monitoring and oversight into the Committees’ legislative and oversight functions.

With these brief words, please allow me to congratulate you, Honourable Speaker, for your leadership and steadfast commitment to promote parliamentary engagement with the SDGs. 

I am delighted that UNDP and our partners, the Governments of Japan, New Zealand and Australia, have been able to assist the Fiji Parliament in developing and launching the Guidance Note. It is impressive to see the way that the Fiji Parliament is leading the world on parliamentary engagement with the SDGs.

Once again, our sincere thanks to all those who were involved in the development of this important Guidance Note for Fiji’s parliamentary strengthening.

Thank you and vinaka vakalevu.