Fiji’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Ambassador Peter Thomson, gave special thanks to the diplomatic staff of the Permanent Mission of Fiji in New York for their successful engagement with the Second Committee of the United Nations in 2015.
The Second Committee (Economic and Financial) concluded its 2015 work this week, having unanimously approved over 70 draft resolutions on topics ranging from sustainable development to financial inclusion to women in development.
Ambassador Thomson made special mention of the worthy contributions of Third Secretaries Vakaoca Kedrayate and Sala Tagicakibau who return to Suva this week after serving a three-month attachment at the Permanent Mission in New York.
The 2015 work of the Committee was bookended by three momentous outcomes for the international community: the adoption of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, the Addis Ababa Declaration on Financing for Development, and the conclusion of the Paris Climate Change Conference.
The Permanent Mission of Fiji to the UN actively engaged throughout the Second Committee’s 2015 work, closely following deliberations on such issues as the follow-up to the SIDS conference, sustainable tourism, women inclusivity and gender mainstreaming issues, climate change and biological diversity.
The Mission also led negotiations for a resolution unanimously adopted this month by the Second Committee, to mandate the convening of the first United Nations Conference to Support the Implementation of the Sustainable Development Goal 14, the so-called Oceans Goal.
In introducing the Oceans resolution to the Second Committee, Ambassador Thomson thanked all delegations for their constructive engagements throughout the consultations process. He said the resolution was one more affirmation of the spirit of positive collaboration that draws everyone together within the universality of the 2030 Agenda. In the end, a total of 95 countries cosponsored the Ocean resolution before its adoption by the Second Committee. The General Assembly is expected to adopt the resolution by consensus before end of December 2015.