Fiji has called for combined efforts of the Pacific Island Forum countries to harness the resources in the region and work together to promote economic development, community welfare and social progress.
Speaking at the inaugural Pacific Islands Development Forum held at the Sheraton Hotel in Denarau on August 2, Foreign Minister Inoke Kubuabola said that promoting a green economy was equivalent to promoting sustainable development.
“Economic growth can only be considered a favourable indicator of national development if it observes two key principles: inclusiveness and equity. I think by now we all know that our voices will not be heard if we are speaking alone. We must be the agents of our own change, since it is we who will be the main winners, or losers, in this process,” he said.
Common voice
His recent speeches have been assertive, signalling to countries (including Australia and New Zealand) that Fiji cannot be bullied by economic sanctions and other restrictions and that it will retain its self-determination and sovereignty.
“We need to ensure ownership over the development process. More than development for all, it is time to talk about development by all,” he told the meeting, which was attended by leaders and officials of the Pacific Islands countries.
Mr Kubuabola said that Fiji was building a new framework for Pacific Islanders to confront challenges and opportunities and that the process was typically Pacific- genuine consultation between governments, civil society groups and the business community.
“We need to listen more to our people and the common sense towards problem solving that comes with grassroots participation. We need to listen more to our business communities, whose investment generates the jobs we need to raise the living standards and improves the lives of our people,” he said.
Mr Kubuabola said that it was the first time that the Fijian Government had brought together all stakeholders to discuss common solutions to common problems in a practical and holistic way.
“We will take those ideas and contribute them to the global debate in other Forums, including the UN. This would be the Pacific speaking with one voice based on the consensus reached at the Pacific Islands Development Forum,” he said.
Assertive but polite
Mr Kubuabola has been drawing international attention with his speeches in recent weeks. An experienced politician, he has restraint in his comments and observations, although not hiding his country’s disappointment over Australia’s intransigence since the military coup that installed the Government of Commodore Josaia Voreqe Bainimarama on December 5, 2006.
Speaking at the 20th Australia Fiji Forum held at the Brisbane Convention & Exhibition Centre, Australia on July 29, 2013 (See separate story in this Special Report), he said that his country had naively imagined that its bigger neighbours (Australia and New Zealand) might at least try to understand Fiji and what it was set to achieve.
“But they turned their backs on us and set about trying to damage the country in the hope that they would destroy our reformist Government. It is not easy to forget Australia’s efforts at the United Nations to bring an end to our three-decade long commitment to UN peacekeeping. It is not easy to forget the Australian Government’s action in severing our access to loans from the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank. It is not easy to forget the travel bans that are still in place. They have led to inconvenience and heartbreak and deprived us of the ability to attract the best people to run our government departments and even serve on the boards of our public enterprises and utilities,” he said.
Even now, Australia has refused a visa for Fiji’s Trade & Industry Minister to attend the Brisbane Forum.
“This is an unconscionable impediment to free trade, just as it was unconscionable for Australia to ban entry to the former head of our national airline, an American citizen punished for assuming the job of Chairman of Tourism Fiji while he pursued the interests of an airline part owned by Qantas,” Mr Kubuabola said.
