PM Updates World Leaders on Nation’s Situation
We have diligently managed travel through our border ever since, and the Fijian public has now been free of the coronavirus for over 150 days. Voreqe Bainimarama Prime Minister
Fji has contained COVID-19 but has not been spared from its economic devastation, Prime Minister Voreqe Bainimarama told the 75th session of the United Nations General Assembly. For the first time in years, the UN General Assembly was held virtually, with Mr Bainimarama sending his message via video. Mr Bainimarama said with Tropical Cyclone Harold and then the COVID-19 pandemic, Fiji was dealt a double blow.
“This was a turning point for Fiji –– we knew that if we could overcome the virus in the harshest of conditions, it could be defeated,” he said.
“So we doubled down on our containment efforts, maintaining fast and early testing through our local WHO-certified laboratory.
“We either isolated or quarantined every close contact of every known case. We maintained a nationwide curfew and a complete lockdown of our two most populous cities.
“We have diligently managed travel through our border ever since, and the Fijian public has now been free of the coronavirus for over 150 days.” Mr Bainimarama highlighted that with the tourism sector, an upwards of 40 per cent of Fiji’s overall economy, along with other key sectors like garment came to a halt overnight, thrusting the economy into the most severe economic cri
sis in history.
He said climate change and the coronavirus might be very different beasts, but the inequities exposed were all too familiar for small developing states.
“Our community of nations is larger, and so are the challenges we face. If climate change was not making that clear, this pandemic has made it painfully evident,” Mr Bainimarama said.
The Prime Minister said while throwing billions of dollars for COVID-19 might work, the same would not do for climate change. He said the focus was now the pandemic but the wrath of climate affecting nations especially small island states should never be forgotten.
He said Fiji worked closely with the UN and partners in Canada, Jamaica, the United Kingdom, the European Union, and Rwanda through high-level engagement on financing for development to explore faster recovery. Mr Bainimarama said economic disparity between developed nations and smaller nations was now more visible. He has called on this gap to be bridged.
“While there are changes we know must be made; Fijians still look to the UN as a beacon for hope, a force for peace and an anchor of stability,” Mr Bainimarama said. “Fiji stands ready to serve our community of nations in every way we can, by way of peacekeeping, by way of our climate and oceans diplomacy, and by example, through the nation we build for ourselves.”