Prime Minister Voreqe Bainimarama held extensive discussions on security and development cooperation with the United States National Security Adviser, Mr Jake Sullivan at the White House in Washington, DC today.
Prime Minister Bainimarama welcomed the closer cooperation between Fiji and the United States of America.
Prime Minister and Mr Sullivan discussed strengthening the alignment between US’s Indo-Pacific Strategy and the Pacific’s 2050 Strategy.
Prime Minister Bainimarama urged the USA for a deeper and more sustained US engagement with the Pacific for a long time.
He said for the Blue Pacific, the security consequences arising from climate change will remain among its gravest challenges.
The Head of the Fijian Government said that sea level rise and climate catastrophes continue to damage our maritime infrastructure such as wharves and jetties, our land-based infrastructure such as bridges and roads, and our human development infrastructure such as schools and hospitals at a frightening pace.
The story is the same across the Pacific.
Prime Minister Bainimarama highlighted that the Pacific is threatened by growing non-traditional threats, including cyber threats, illicit financial flows, the growing narcotics trans-shipment networks across the Pacific, and illegal fisheries across the region.
“The Pacific looks to the U.S to be firmly, unequivocally, and fully on our side as we try to overcome these challenges”, he said.
Mr Sullivan welcomed this great level of strategic dialogue between Fiji and the USA.
He said President Biden was fully committed to working with Fiji and the Pacific in responding to these challenges together.
Both the Prime Minister and Mr Sullivan discussed the forthcoming and first President Biden and Leaders Summit to be held at the White House later this year.
They also focused their discussions on trade, maritime, and security cooperation.