Development partners endorse draft National Development Plan
FIJI’s development partners have endorsed the draft National Development Plan.
Following the first ever Government and Development Partners Roundtable in Suva yesterday, Finance Minister Professor Biman Prasad said the endorsement was a significant step towards government’s efforts to address its Sustainable Development Goals shortfalls.
“The endorsement by the development partners on the draft National Development Plan and the priorities in the plan particularly the theme of getting the basics right is a very significant endorsement,” said Prof Prasad.
“The appreciation by the development partners including the United Nations group as to the focus of the Fijian government in taking the country forward economically.
“It makes sure that we as much as possible achieve some of the short falls in the sustainable development goals.”
Prof Prasad added that a lot of the setbacks were because of COVID-19 and the discussions provided an opportunity for government to present on the country’s current economic status. United Nations resident coordinator in Fiji Dirk Wagener said about 90 participants made up mostly of development partners in the Pacific shared their ongoing projects that were captured in the proposed National Development Plan.
“The meeting provided us with two key opportunities and the first opportunity was for us as development partners was to hear from the government of Fiji on the draft National Development Plan.
“We received a very thorough introduction on the current economic status of Fiji as well as the plan and the outline of the next National Development Plan that is being formulated as we speak and development partners were given an opportunity to ask questions which were then answered by the government.”