Vice President to open National Seminar on Peace Stability and Development
Apr 7, 2006, 09:46

The Vice President Ratu Joni Madraiwiwi will this morning open the National Seminar on Peace, Stability and Development in Fiji organized by the Ministry of National Reconciliation and Unity and the United Nations Development Programme’s (UNDP) Pacific sub-regional centre.

The seminar is being held at the Raffles Tradewinds Convention Centre in Lami outside Suva and is part of the recent nation-wide Peace, Stability and Development Analysis (PSDA) conducted by the Reconciliation Ministry and UNDP in collaboration with Ecumenical Centre for Research Education and Advocacy (ECREA) from November last year to February 2006.

The findings of PSDA will be presented to 150 people at the National Seminar including national and community leaders, top level civil servants and development planners in the form of the report – “People’s Strategy to Peace, Stability and Development in Fiji.”

This document has the views of a selected sample of 350 people from around the country consulted during the Peace, Stability and Development analysis and their views range from people’s vision of future peaceful and stable Fiji to how they think these obstacles can be overcome to attain their vision of a peaceful Fiji.

One of the visions articulated on Fiji’ future in the report is to have a Fiji that “Proactively works for peace and where social justice through equal opportunity, a fair distribution of power and resources, equal protection and impartial law enforcement prevails.”

Another view on peace and stability is to “…establish multicultural centres in towns and cities that promote and propagate different cultures in the country for mutual understanding.”



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