Fiji’s Ambassador to Indonesia His Excellency Ratu Tui Cavuilati has been appointed to the Governing Council of the UNESCAP- CAPSA.
The Centre for Alleviation of Poverty through Sustainable Agriculture [CAPSA] is a subsidiary body of the Economic and Social Commission for the Asia (ESCAP) based in Bogor, Indonesia. CAPSA was founded in 1981 as the CGPRT Centre (The Regional Co-ordination Centre for Research and Development for Coarse Grains, Pulses, Roots and Tuber Crops in the Humid tropics of the Asia and Pacific).
On 11 May 2012, Dr Katinka Weinberger Director of CAPSA presented a letter informing the Ambassador of his confirmation as Fiji Government Representative to serve the Governing Council of CAPSA. The countries represented in the council include Thailand, Malaysia, Iran, Pakistan, Korea, Sri Lanka and Indonesia. The council meets once a year.
In his acceptance Ambassador mentioned that the appointment is in light of the practical importance of CAPSA to Government’s People’s Charter especially Pillar 8 which aims to reduce poverty to negligible levels by 2015.
The objectives of the UNESCAP-CAPSA are:
Enhanced national capacity for socioeconomic and policy research on sustainable agriculture for poverty reduction and food security;
Enhanced regional coordination and networking to successfully scale out research agriculture and rural development;
Enhanced capacity of policy makers and senior government officials to design and implement policies to achieve rural development, poverty reduction and food security through sustainable agriculture in Asia and the Pacific.