New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern says it’s hard to be a leader during the coronavirus pandemic. Ms Ardern raised the sentiment during a talanoa session on leadership and regionalism at the

Suva Civic Centre on Wednesday. She said it was because leaders were faced with some of the most- devastating difficult questions, often with the imperfect information.

“I believe that as leaders we should speak more openly while making decisions, if we do not have imperfect information. We do not know everything,” she said.

“Leaders should share the experiences they face openly because it enables them to move collectively with their communities and helps them understand why the decision was made.”

“It will be the easiest approach for leaders as members of the communities will be willing to move with you. I remember when we were making the decision of closing our border.”

New Zealand has recorded a total of 1.6 million cases of corona- virus and 1674 deaths.

“Decision of closing the border was huge; it affected many of the regional countries as they rely heavily on the tourism sector. It’s the foundation for many in the region,” she said.

“New Zealand had to close its border because the coronavirus at that time did not have a vaccine, it became rampant in our country.”

“We have had cases of influenza or the Spanish flu but no viruses have been deadly and have had a worse impact on our country’s economy like the coronavirus pandemic.”

She believes women in leadership faced more challenges than their counterpart during the coronavirus pandemic.

Ms Arden spoke fondly of her history teacher who inspired her to be a leader.

“He described to me the confidence issues that he had standing in front of the classroom,” she said.

“It was the time; I looked up impostor syndrome. This idea that if in any moment that one may question whether or not you really deserve to be here.”

She also spoke out about the disparity between mental women I believe women and young women in particular experience that more often than our counter- parts.

“I think by talking about it, we’ll see more particularly those in government who you thought that have at all times all the confidence in the world, you will be shocked to see that at some point some of them doubted themselves,” she said.

“It is human to have doubt, in fact you will be a better leader if you ask for advice and question your own decisions you make on a regular basis,” she said.

She said regional leaders need to think collectively about the responsibility they have to one another independently as rein- forced the importance of Pacific regionalism.

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