His Highness Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, Foreign Minister of the United Arab Emirates arrives in Nadi on 17 February and departs on 18 February for bilateral discussions with his Fijian counterpart, Ratu Inoke Kubuabola.
His Highness will also meet with the Prime Minister Hon. Voreqe Bainimarama and the Attorney-General and the Minister for Finance, Public Enterprises, Public Service and Communications, Hon. Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum.
Fijian Foreign Minister Ratu Inoke Kubuabola said, “We welcome the visit of His Highness to Fiji. This is his second visit to Fiji since we established Diplomatic Relations with the UAE on 17 March, 2010. This reflects our strong bilateral relations and our close cooperation in multilateral fora, particularly at the United Nations. We opened our Embassy in the UAE on 2 September, 2012 in recognition of our growing close relations.”
His Highness will also take the opportunity to inaugurate a solar photovoltaic micro grid project that brings clean energy to some of Fiji’s outer islands, namely Kadavu, Lakeba and Rotuma.
Constructed by Masdar, Abu Dhabi’s renewable energy company, the clean energy project is the third financed from the United Arab Emirates’ $50 million Pacific Partnership Fund, through the Abu Dhabi Fund for Development (ADFD).
The UAE constructed solar plants together will have a capacity of 555 kilowatts (kW) and will provide more than 40 percent of the daily electricity demand of each of the three islands. The energy produced will collectively avoid emitting 722 tons of CO2 each year and save 259,000 litres of diesel fuel worth US$497,000 annually.
The UAE is one of the most peaceful countries in the Middle East and the North African Region. Its political stability and visionary leadership has contributed to a strong economy and a high standard of living.Contrary to popular perception, oil only accounts a third of the UAE GDP as the Government continues to diversify away from oil and rely more on non-oil income with the non-oil sector accounting now for 69 percent of UAE’s GDP of $419 billion.
DEPTFO