Prime Minister Voreqe Bainimarama has challenged leading innovators of the world to include climate action in their innovation plans in order to drive concrete solutions.
While delivering a statement at the World Conference on Creative Economy Ministerial meeting along the margins of the 2020 World Expo in Dubai on Thursday, Prime Minister Bainimarama said innovators have an opportunity to turn the lofty rhetoric of speeches into action.
Whether it is through the arts, digital spaces, or in our urban planning, he said leaders have a duty to point our societies towards a more sustainable future.
"In Fiji, I like to say that the front line of climate change is becoming the cutting edge of sustainable innovation and we are building an entire economic sector that is dedicated to building climate resilience and spurring our net-zero transition,” Prime Minister Bainimarama said.
“This is making us a beacon of blue, green and better development and we are open for business."
"Not only in the traditional ways that we have sought investment but in all of the new ways necessary to tackle the great challenges of our time. We are incubating innovation that serves people and the planet, and it will take every ounce of our courage and, of course, our creativity, to deliver the future we want for ourselves and that our children deserve."
The Prime Minister said that it’s up to us to choose where our recovery takes us but it's impossible to take a prudent view of the future without considering, at every step, the impacts of climate change.
In lending Fiji's voice to the global chorus of creativity, Prime Minister Bainimarama narrated the significance of a magimagi with the interpretation of working together towards achieving a common goal.
"In Fiji, the roofs of our traditional bures and the lashings of our canoes are held together by a coconut-fibre rope, known as magimagi. There are palms trees here in Dubai as well, so you may know that a coconut husk is thin, no stronger than a single thread of twine. But the magimagi is not a single thread, it is a binding of coconut fibre, and those fibres work together to latch structures that can stand for generations and maintain sea-faring vessels that can traverse entire oceans,” he added.
"When I see the strength of so many young people and innovators together, across borders and hemispheres, I can't help but see the magimagi. Alone, we are single threads but together with the combined knowledge and experience of our cultures, we are far stronger."
"When we share ideas, find new ways to work together, and combine our ingenuity, we build a foundation of cooperation that can lead our community of nations anywhere we seek to be."
The conference, hosted by the UAE Ministry of Culture and Youth, under the leadership of Her Excellency, Noura bint Mohammed Al Kaabi, was attended by leading international thinkers, policymakers, creatives and innovators.
This landmark celebration of global creativity is an opportunity to catalyse the future of the global creative economy.