HONORABLE MR JONE USAMATE
ACTING MINISTER FOR WORKS, TRANSPORT AND PUBLIC UTILITIES

SECOND PACIFIC REGIONAL MEETING OF MINISTERS OF ENERGY AND MARITIME TRANSPORT, NADI, FIJI

SOFITEL HOTEL 2nd April 2014
NADI 0900 Hours

Salutations

Ambassador Gyan Acharya, Under Secretary General and high level representatives for Least Developing Countries,
Landlocked developing Countries and Small Islands States;
Honourable Cabinet Ministers of SPC member countries
Your Excellencies,
Members of Diplomatic Corps
Director General of SPC

Representatives from participating SPC member countries and other agencies
Representatives of Development Partners
Distinguished guest
Ladies and gentlemen

Ni sa bula vinaka and good morning to you all. Welcome to Nadi and welcome to Fiji. It is a great honor to be here this morning to join you and participate in this most auspicious occasion.

On behalf of the Government of Fiji, it is my privilege to welcome you all to the country and to the Second Pacific Regional Energy and Transport Ministers meeting, the first ever to be hosted by the Government of Fiji in partnership with our co-host the Secretariat of the Pacific Community SPC. Quite apart from the nitty gritty of this international meeting, we also hope that you will have the opportunity to enjoy the Fiji hospitality in the usual Pacific Way while you are here.

Talking of the Pacific Way, this meeting today and the next two days is an opportunity for Government policy makers, international experts, development partners and industry stakeholders to come together and discuss issues and share ideas and experiences in the areas of energy and transport that can assist in the sustainable development of our countries and its people.

Ladies and gentlemen, the theme of this meeting is “Sustainable Energy and Transport Services for All” in the Pacific island countries. This theme has been chosen because it captures the “never centre” of our vulnerability as a small island states in the Pacific in the middle of the Pacific Ocean quite far away from our major source markets where sustainable development as a nation is highly dependent on having an affordable, reliable and efficient energy and transport services to drive our economy forward for the benefit of our people and their development.

Energy and transport are key drivers of our economies but they are also the two sectors that pose the greatest challenge to our sustainable development as a nation because the cost of providing these two essential services to our people is huge, and in some cases, very unsustainable as they are always driven from outside our national borders and therefore beyond our control.

The sustainable development agenda is the biggest challenge for our economies as Small Island States. The major challenge for all of us here today, is how do we achieve it, given all our vulnerability such as limited resources, small population and large distances from major markets. The Pacific Plan gives us some strategic direction on how to address this problem, as it also focuses on sustainable development as one of its key pillars in its framework. The other key pillars of that document covers strategies on economic growth, good governance and regional security. These key strategies issues are important and critical to sustainable economic growth in our Pacific region.

But the question again is how do we achieve sustainable development in the face of rising fuel prices, climate change phenomenon, and uneven market competition that affects us here in the Pacific especially in terms of providing affordable and reliable energy and transport services to our people.

Ladies and gentlemen, in terms of seeking solutions to these problems, some form of regional integration of national efforts and pooling of resources by national Government and development partners is required. We need to work together – that is the only way.
This I presume is one of the key objectives of your meetings in the next three days, we are here to discuss, dialogue and share ideas to come up with some feasible practical solutions to our common problems in the areas of energy and transport services for the Pacific Island Countries.

Ladies and gentlemen, as Pacific people we have a common heritage and common development problems. Our collective 9 million population of the Pacific is spread out in uneven land masses from the big resource rich and volcanic islands of Papua New Guinea and Solomon, Fiji to the small coral atolls of Tuvalu, Kiribati and Marshall Islands. Our uneven share of land masses, natural resources and endowment bring with it major challenges in terms of our sustainable development. We are bound together as Pacific people by the fact that we share the vast resources of our Pacific Ocean and also we share the same vulnerabilities and associated problems. The Pacific Ocean is our major lifeblood. It is the source of life for many of our communities, life from the vast fishery resources, it offers to our people. At the same time, it is also a major source of our vulnerability because it is the main breeding ground of tropical cyclones, tidal waves, tsunamis and flooding when it rears its ugly head. With climate change phenomenon taking place around the globe the frequency of these natural disasters is becoming more pronounced and severe and more frequent for our individual economies to bear.

The cost of these disasters on our economies, especially on our infrastructures is large and often unsustainable. Unexpected events and natural disasters bring destruction to our communities and negatively impact on our economic growth and sustainable development as Pacific people.

Ladies and gentlemen, though as Pacific people, we have many development problems that are common to all of us, problems in the areas of energy and transport services, but we are still confident that we can seek and find solutions to our development problems in the Pacific Way of dialogue and sharing ideas and experiences that can assist us in our development effort. Regional and international meetings like this one allow us to come together with our international experts, and development partners, to map out Framework and Roadmaps to address the problems and challenges facing our individual countries, and the region with the advancement of new modern technologies in these two sectors, this kind of international gathering is an ideal opportunity for us all to seek the best way forward to addressing our development challenges so that our country can achieve sustainable development in the long term.

Ladies and gentlemen, we have a very exhaustive and grueling three days of intense discussion on energy and transport matters that are of national importance to our respective countries in your program.

These issues include in the energy sector the following issues:
• Energy policy and regulatory framework,
• Energy security,
• Energy data repository
• Renewable energy sources and programs and new technologies
• Energy infrastructure developments,
• Energy efficiency measures, and
• Sustainable energy programs.

In the area of maritime transport, I note that the focus shall be on the following maritime issues including:
i. Maritime safety and security in terms of search and rescue activities and coordination
ii. Maritime policies and regulatory framework
iii. Data sharing agreement
iv. STCW Manilla Amendments and its requirements
• Seafarers training programs
• Hydrographic requirements and international obligations
• Port issues and aids to navigations
• Sustainable transport
• Establishment of a Central Pacific Shipping Commission
• Shipping Franchise Scheme, and
• Sea route Licensing.

Finally, in the areas of aviation, I note the forum will also be discussing the following issues:
• Aviation Research Programs and Air Services Agreements,
• Pacific island Civil Aviation Safety and Security Treaty, and
• Pacific Aviation Safety Office Reform program.
Ladies and gentlemen, I know that some of these issues highlighted above are not easy to reach an agreement on as they are quite sensitive to national Governments as they may impinge on national sovereignty issues. But nevertheless, I believe in the consensus building in such regional meetings such as this one, taking into account our Pacific Way of reaching consensus.

Ladies and gentlemen, that is the challenge that I pose for you today and hope that the outcome of this meeting will go a long way in addressing these problems and challenges for the benefit of our people and their development.

With those few words, I have great pleasure in declaring this Second Pacific Regional Energy and Transport Ministers Meeting OPEN.

Vinaka vakalevu.