Opening remarks from Pacific Islands Forum Chair, PM Tonga, Hon. Hu'akavameiliku
at the WB-PIFL Talanoa with President Ajay Banga
5th September, 2024, Forum Secretariat, Suva.
• Hon. Sitiveni Rabuka, Prime Minister of the Republic of Fiji
• Hon. Wesley Simina, President of the Federated State of Micronesia
• Hon. Hilda Heine, President of the Republic of Marshall Islands
• Hon. David Adeang, President of Nauru
• Honorable Deputy Prime Ministers and Ministers
• Acknowledging Leaders that are joining us online
• Ajay Banga, President of the World Bank Group
• Baron Waqa, Secretary General of the Pacific Islands Forum
• Excellencies
• Ladies and gentlemen
• Ajay Banga, President of the World Bank Group. Malo e lelei, Bula Vinaka, and welcome to the Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat.
• I recognise that this is your first time here, and it is only the third time in over 50 years that a President of the World Bank Group has visited our region. I acknowledge that we, Pacific Leaders, have been allocated one and a half hours to dialogue with you.
• To be frank, this is concerning given our unique vulnerabilities. That said, we thank you for demonstrating leadership in visiting and dialoguing with us today. I do hope that your visit today and your short trip to some of our Pacific countries mark a new chapter in the World Bank’s engagement with the Blue Pacific Continent.
• It is a pity that you were not in Tonga last week. Not only would you have had the opportunity to hear first-hand from various stakeholders of our common challenges as a region, but you would have experienced first-hand our unique vulnerabilities as Pacific Small Island Development States.
• The opening of our Pacific Islands Forum Leaders meeting also included torrential downpour, and an earthquake – all before lunch.
• In the afternoon, and if you had followed the UN Secretary General’s program – you would have visited areas significantly impacted by sea level rise; and villages devasted by the Hunga Tonga Hunga Ha’apai volcanic eruption and tsunami. The issue of Loss and Damage, while still being debated at the global level, we here in the Pacific are living its impacts. We encourage the World Bank as the current entity to operationalize the Fund for responding to Loss and Damage to ensure that it does reach those most vulnerable to the adverse effects of climate change.
• Economically, our economies are highly susceptible to the global market, and we face high transportation and connectivity costs. We have banks leaving some of our smallest Pacific countries because we are seen as too small and unprofitable.
• On top of this, many of us continue to struggle with IUU fishing, growing transnational crimes and drugs problem, and increasing youth unemployment. Many of us are losing critical skilled labour abroad – affecting key sectors such as education and health.
• We are at the center of intensifying geopolitical interest, which brings its own challenges, particularly for small administrations with low absorptive capacity.
• Yet our Pacific people remain unfazed. They remain resolute and find resilience in the face of our region’s unique vulnerabilities. That is why we strongly support the multidimensional vulnerability index as approved by the UN General Assembly.
• President Banga. As a region, we have prioritised building resilience into everything that we do. The Pacific Resilience Facility is at the center of our resilience building. We are grateful to the World Bank for providing increasing levels of support to our region in transport, trade, and connectivity.
• Similarly, we welcome the recently approved Correspondent Banking Relationship Project. As Leaders had also reaffirmed last week, we would like to see a greater focus on building resilience with the education and health sectors – in terms of labour and capacity, technology and innovation, and climate proof infrastructure initiatives.
• This is why we support your effort to replenish the IDA21 as this will provide us with the financial support required by our region. So we hope for an increase in the IDA allocation to the Pacific.
• Through our Talanoa today with Forum Leaders, we hope that you will gain a first-hand understanding of our future financing needs as we implement the 2050 Strategy for the Blue Pacific, and the forthcoming Pacific Roadmap for Economic Development (PRED).
• As it relates to global financing instruments, we as a region would like to see more responsive international and multilateral systems to the increasing impact of climate-related disasters in the Pacific.
• We look forward to closer collaboration with the World Bank and we consider the Bank a genuine partner in our endeavour to transform and build a resilient Pacific.
• Malo ‘aupito
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