Pacific Faced With Triple C Threats
Prime Minister Voreqe Bainimarama believes the Pacific Island Countries are facing three deadly threats.
Speaking at the Talanoa Session on Leadership and Regionalism at the Suva Civic Centre, Mr Bainimarama said regional countries were facing the threat of climate, coronavirus and conflict.
“The Pacific can balance these threats with the multitude of strengths and opportunities using our significant natural resources on land and in the ocean,” he said.
“The Pacific is seeing pronounced fluctuations in the strategically competitive relationships of the major powers as well as an emerging multipolar system with some middle powers.
“Russia’s war on Ukraine, coupled with bruised economies, must now also contend with spiralling global inflation and grave threats to our food security.”
He said the region relies on a stable international political environment if we are to achieve our regional aspirations.
“(The) Pacific finds itself at the centre of heightened geo-political and strategic interest which adds another layer of difficulty to the current regional challenges,” he said.
“While we welcome the considerable opportunities that come with greater interest, we must also be prepared to engage with the challenges that follow.
“The global context in which we find ourselves, are very different from the world of our predecessor’s calls for a fundamental rethinking on the way in which we work together as a region
“The Forum leaders are shortly going to begin the in-depth considerations regarding the 2050 strategy for the Blue Pacific continent,” he said.
He said as stewards of an increasingly threatened and contested Pacific Ocean, the onus was on the citizens of the Pacific to safeguard the future.
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