The Honorable Speaker of the Parliament of the Republic of Fiji, Hon. Ratu Epeli Nailatikau,

The Honorable Chair of the Standing Committee on Natural Resources, Hon. Sanjay Kirpal,

The Honorable Chair of the Standing Committee on Economic Affair, Honourable Vijay Nath,

Honorable members,

Colleagues,

Ladies and gentlemen,

Ni sa yadra vinaka, asalaam aleykum, namaste and a good morning to you all.

As indicated by the Master of Ceremony, I have recently arrived into your beautiful country and I am so delighted to be here this morning to provide some opening remarks at this very important seminar.

Based on the briefings that I have received from my colleagues working on the Fiji Parliament Support Project, the Parliament of Fiji has been quite active regionally and globally in sharing its experiences on the concrete actions it is taking to support and monitor the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals through Fiji’s National Development Plan.

Congratulations to you Honorable Speaker and to the Honorable members and staff of the Fijian Parliament in embracing the critical role that you play in driving forward people centered development that is reflective of and responsive to the needs of Parliament.

The COVID-19 pandemic has had devastating repercussions on the lives of many Fijians, businesses, and various industries as a whole. In line with the trends, we are observing regionally and globally, the pandemic is either stalling or reversing a country’s progress on the 17 Goals.

The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the importance of the 2030 Agenda as a holistic vision for a just, prosperous and healthy society. Due to your constitutional mandate to make and approve laws, oversee government policies and programmes, including enacting and scrutinizing the government budget and representing the views of your people, as a parliamentarian, you are valuable partners in ensuring the accountable, inclusive, participatory and transparent governance that is necessary to achieve sustainable development for all.

Over the course of the three-day Seminar, you will be undertaking a refresher on the SDGs and NDPs, particularly Goal 5 on Gender Equality and other goals that are relevant to your Standing Committees.

I have also been informed that you will continue the trainings on financial statements discussions and analysis. You are aware that the ability of any government to efficiently collect revenue and spend it in an accountable and transparent manner, is instrumental for nations seeking to expand their economic growth and increase available resources to pursue national objectives, including those relating to the SDGs.

Your discussions will also be enriched by the dialogues which will take place with the relevant national stakeholders that come under the Committees area of responsibility, to follow up on their progress towards the National Development Plan targets and SDGs.

I also understand that you will be joined by your peers from the Parliament of Victoria, who will share their experiences on how the committees have continued to function during the pandemic.

In closing, it would be remiss for me not to mention that this Seminar would not have been possible without the generous support from our donors, the Governments Australia, Japan and New Zealand to the UNDP Fiji Parliament Support Project.

I would also like to acknowledge the Korean International Cooperation Agency and Swedish International Cooperation Agency, alongside the Governments of Australia, Japan and New Zealand for their support to UNDP through the Governance for Resilient Development in the Pacific (Gov4Res) Project that has enabled UNDP to include sessions on risk informed development for the Standing Committee on Natural Resources.

I would also like to express my gratitude to the Parliaments of Victoria and New Zealand for their unwavering support to UNDP parliamentary development work in the Fiji and in the region.

Honorable Speaker, I would also like to sincerely thank you and the Fijian Parliament for your unfailing support to the UNDP Fiji Parliament Support Project. We appreciate this important partnership.

I trust that the Seminar deepens our collective understanding of the role of parliament in supporting the implementation of the SDGs and improving capacity for engagements in the achievement of the Global Goals. I wish you a fruitful deliberation over the next three days.

Vinaka vakalevu, dhanyavaad, shukriya.