The High Commission of India in Suva and United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) on Friday launched the Climate Early Warning Systems in Seven Pacific Countries Project at the Novotel Hotel, Lami, Suva.

This is the first such project launched under the India-UN Development Partnership Fund which will be managed by the UN Office of South-South Cooperation and implemented through UNDP, Fiji.

High Commissioner of India to Fiji, the Cook Islands, Kiribati, Nauru, Tonga, Tuvalu and Vanuatu Vishvas Sapkal was also present at the event.

While speaking at the event, High Commissioner Sapkal invoked Vasudhaiv Kutumbkam from the Indian philosophy which is the key principle underlying India’s diplomacy and which means, “whole world is one family”.

Mr Sapkal said India was a committed partner in development of Pacific Island countries and expressed hope that the project would increase the resilience of the partner countries against natural disasters and would be catalytic towards achieving the 17 Goals of the 2030 Agenda and Goal 13 in particular which related to action against Climate Change.

High Commissioner Sapkal acknowledged some of development assistance projects India had undertaken in the region and conveyed his best wishes to the UNDP project team for an efficient and timely completion of the project.

A powerpoint presentation focusing on “India: A Development Partner” was also shown at the event as well as the introductory video on India-UN Development Partnership Fund.

Director of Cook Island Met Services Arona Ngari welcomed the project and thanked the government of India for their generous support to the project.

He highlighted that the timing of such a project couldn’t be better, a fact which was also endorsed by Bakhodir Burkhanov, Country Director, UNDP Pacific Office in Fiji and Head of Regional Programmes and Policy who affirmed that the generous aid from the government of India came at a very timely moment.

The project adds a valuable supplement to the set of schemes already in place by the UNDP in the Pacific.

Mr Burkhanov expressed his gratitude to the government of India for their generous support to the project and admired the speed with which the fund had become active and the project launched.

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