REMARKS: SG Waqa at KIZUNA between Pacific Island Countries and Japan

•    Our esteemed host this morning, the President of Japan International Cooperation Agency, Akihiko Tanaka
•    Your Excellencies, the Leaders of the Pacific Islands Forum
•    Honourable Ministers
•    Ladies and Gentlemen

•    I thank you for this opportunity to offer a few reflections at this auspicious gathering.

•    At this 10th PALM engagement, it is only fitting that we reflect on and honour the strengthening cooperation that the Pacific has built and continues to build with Japan.

•    It is a cooperation that has been fostered through agencies such as JICA that have built a lasting relationship in the region at the regional, national and community level.

•    In a region such as the Pacific, where our challenges are unique and exacerbated by our geography, and we constantly face the tyranny of distance, our greatest wealth lies, not in our resources, but in our people.

•    Investment in our people, in their capacity and in their productivity remains a key priority across all our island economies.

•    In that regard, I acknowledge and commend the work of JICA, which has invested approximated 8 million Japanese Yen in Pacific Island Countries.

•    We continue to benefit from the opportunities under people-to-people exchange: including the attachment of expert advisers in government departments across the region.

•    Our people also benefit from access to training opportunities here in Japan under such programs as the SDG Global Leadership Program – designed to train potential leaders of tomorrow.

•    Indeed, it is no secret that capacity development is a key priority across all our countries. 
•    I would only urge that JICA work closely with countries and Governments in the identification of skills gaps that need to be addressed.

•    Further, capacity development must be facilitated in a manner that ensures that there is a sustained transfer of knowledge and expertise.

•    Our Forum Economic Ministers will be considering this month a proposal to re-establish peer-to-peer exchange within the Pacific region.

•    This programme can benefit from the mentorship of Japanese experts particularly in the sectors of health, information, connectivity and technology.

•    To that end, we welcome and encourage continued dialogue to strengthen the focus and the impact of your programmes and interventions in the region to ensure that it supports the needs of our Pacific people in a sustainable manner.

•    With those brief reflections, I thank you.