Prime Minister Honourable Josaia Voreqe Bainimarama today met with the World Bank’s Managing Director Operations Mr. Axel Van Trotsenburg along the margins of the COP 25 in Madrid, Spain.
He said Fiji’s partnership with the World Bank Group is very important because it is a relationship that has continued to evolve over the years with mutual benefit in pursuit of economic development and global stability.
The Head of Government said Fiji has benefited a lot from the support of the World Bank in enhancing our capacity for evidence-based decision making.
Speaking on the new World Bank South Pacific hub in Suva, Prime Minister Bainimarama said the hub is a major boost for the region as it increases our ability to engage directly with the World Bank.
The new hub, he said will play a significant role in the promotion of new financial innovation in the Pacific.
He added that ongoing assistance will be instrumental in further enhancing investor confidence on new ventures designed at improving national resilience to climate change.
The Bainimarama-led Government collaborated with World Bank expertise to develop Fiji’s first Climate Vulnerability Assessment, a report which has influenced many of our most recent climate-related policies such as the National Adaptation Plan and the new National Climate Change Policy.
He said Fiji is now in the process of developing a new legislation, in the form of a National Climate Change Act, which will enshrine our commitments under the Paris Agreement into national law and establish new governance arrangements for managing climate risk.
The Act will create new legal requirements to conduce robust climate risk assessments for new infrastructure projects.
Prime Minister Bainimarama said Fiji welcomes the World Bank’s ongoing assistance and is keen to explore new innovative climate finance mechanisms to help build national resilience.