The Minister for Rural & Maritime Development and Disaster Management, Minister for Defence, National Security and Policing Hon. Inia Seruiratu

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) Regional Director, Pacific Subregional Office, Mr. Masayuki Tachiiri

The Deputy Director-General Science and Capability for the Pacific Community (SPC), Dr. Paula Vivili

Permanent Secretary for Rural & Maritime Development and Disaster Management, Mr. David Kolitagane

Recovery Advisor, UNDP Crisis Bureau, New York - Rita Missal

Lead Training Facilitator, Dr. Asha Kambon

Training Participants’

Colleagues

Ladies & Gentlemen

A very good morning to you all.

The extraordinary circumstances caused by the pandemic demands that we meet virtually today. May I take this opportunity to congratulate the Fijian Government for its Budget announcement for the fiscal year 2021/22 last week Friday.

UNDP stands ready to assist through its programmatic intervention and will continue to engage with the Fijian Government in emerging areas in the appropriateness of time.

I take this opportunity to thank the Fijian Government in its support to UNDP over the years - and I thank you personally Hon. Seruiratu for agreeing to launch and open the PDNA Trainings. We are under no illusion that all is well, since livelihoods have been tempered with and businesses are struggling.

However, we remain steadfast in our support and that we are a resilient nation, confident in the Fijian Government’s ability with the support of the developing partners, will always do what it does best, to keep the Fijian people’s interest at heart and those of us that have called Fiji our home for now.

I thank the Asian Development Bank (ADB) Regional Director, Pacific Subregional Office, Mr. Masayuki Tachiiri for his presence here today. UNDP with ADB has signed a Global Partnership Agreement on Building Disaster Resilient Infrastructure through Enhanced Knowledge, a new area of intervention with ADB.

My colleague, Rita Missal will expound on the details of the partnership project in the latter part of the programme. We are at the beginning of this new arrangement and will no doubt flourish to greater heights with the support of the Fijian Government and with the Pacific Community (SPC).

Ladies & Gentlemen, UNDP has been working with SPC on multiple areas of intervention over the years and one of which is Recovery interventions. This partnership project with ADB again provides the renewed opportunity to engage and partner with regional partners such as SPC. It is not only critical - it is imperatively strategic in the sense that such partnership intervention is sustained in the region given the complexities and subtleties of working in the Pacific region.

I congratulate the SPC Deputy Director-General Science and Capability, Dr. Paula Vivili on his appointment and thank him for being here today which is a testament of an extension of the mutual partnership now to include ADB.

Ladies & Gentlemen, I welcome everyone and thank you for attending today’s partnership project launch and the official opening of the PDNA trainings.

Thank you and vinaka vakalevu.