His Excellency the President Major-General (Ret’d) Jioji Konusi Konrote today officiated at the commissioning of Fiji's Ambassador of the Republic of Fiji to the United States of America, Amenatave Vakasavuwaqa Yauvoli.
The ceremony at the State House in Suva was attended by the Permanent Secretary at the Office of the Prime Minister, Immigration and Sugar Industry and Acting Permanent Secretary Foreign Affairs, Mr Yogesh Karan and other senior officials of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Ambassador Yauvoli thanked the Fijian government for having faith and confidence in him to deliver an important diplomatic appointment as Fiji’s Ambassador to the United States and Canada. He said that he will do his utmost best to advance Fiji’s interests abroad and take Fiji and United States relations to new heights, particularly in advancing Fiji and US cooperation in areas of investment, trade, defence and security, to name a few.
He stated that the Fiji’s Mission resident in Washington D.C, United States under his leadership will aspire to maximise cooperation opportunities in mutual development priorities through building stronger engagements between Fiji and the United States. He said that the Mission will also engage on strengthening cooperation with the Fijian diaspora in the United States and Canada and encourage them in diaspora investment in their areas of specific interest.
Ambassador Yauvoli highlighted a recent meeting with the United States Ambassador to Fiji, H.E Mr Joseph James Cella on a proposed way forward in strengthening relations between Fiji and the United States relations. There are potential areas of collaboration that the US Embassy in Fiji and the Fiji Mission in the United States will be looking to advance in areas of economic and social development.
Ambassador Yauvoli attained a distinguished career both as a Fijian diplomat and civil servant with commencement of work into the civil service in 1988. Ambassador Yauvoli has more than 30 years of working experience at the international, regional and national levels, having worked at the Pacific level in four Pacific regional organisations (SPREP, SPC, PIDF, MSG Secretariat) and at the international level with a stint at the WTO HQ based in Geneva, and in the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change based in Bonn, Germany.
Ambassador Yauvoli was the recent Director General in the Melanesian Spearhead Group (MSG) Secretariat based in Port Vila, Vanuatu from 2016 to 2020. Prior to that, he worked as the Fijian Ambassador for Climate Change and Oceans from 2015 to 2016 and Interim Secretary General of the Pacific Islands Development Forum (PIDF).
He was the former Permanent Secretary Foreign Affairs from 2013 to 2014. Other distinguished leadership roles undertaken by Ambassador Yavoli are as follows:
·Director Secretariat of the Pacific Community North Pacific Regional Office, FSM from 2008 to December 2012
·Permanent Secretary for Commerce, Industry, Investment and Communications, Fiji from 2007 to 2008
·Deputy Permanent Secretary for Ministry of Foreign Affairs and External Trade, Fiji January 2006 to Feb 2007
·Senior Policy Adviser: Sustainable Development, Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme (SPREP) Apia, Samoa from 2004 to 2005.
.Counsellor and Deputy Permanent Representative, Fijian Mission to the UN, New York: 2000-2003.
Ambassador Yauvoli graduated with a Bachelor of Arts majoring in Economics and Management from the University of the South Pacific, Suva in 1988 and he later attained a Master of Commerce in Development Economics in 1994 and a Master of Commerce (Honors) in 1996 from the University of Wollongong in New South Wales. He also attained a Diploma in Multilateral Trade Negotiations in 2000 from the WTO Training Institute.