Fiji’s diplomatic relations with the Federal Republic of Germany reached new heights this week following the visit of the Vice-President of the German Bundestag, Hon. Claudia Roth.
Hon Claudia Roth’s met with senior government officials and civil society representatives.
The key objective of the visit is to broaden Fiji-Germany cooperation in areas of climate change mitigation and enhance mutual cooperation for progressive development.
The delegation also visited Vunidogoloa village in Vanua Levu to witness first-hand the effects of climate change and its impacts on the livelihood of the communities. It also gave the delegation an opportunity to meet with the Vunidogoloa community and to hear from them the challenges they face due to the detrimental effects of climate change.
Areas of development collaboration were also discussed during the courtesy call made by Hon. Roth to the Minister for Defence, National Security and Foreign Affairs, Hon. Inia Seruiratu at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs headquarters in Suva on Tuesday this week.
Minister Seruiratu acknowledged the Government of Germany for their tremendous support towards Fiji’s presidency at COP23 and further commended the work by GIZ on climate change mitigation. Minister Seruiratu said the visit by the German delegation is timely for it forges strategic partnership towards mitigating the effects of climate change. He thanked the German delegation for the visit and its commitment to strengthen diplomatic cooperation with Fiji.
In response, Hon. Roth reaffirmed Germany’s support for Fiji’s remarkable work undertaken in climate change mitigation. She said this visit will enable information sharing and collaboration on climate change mitigation and advancement of sustainable development goals.
Fiji also expressed interest to draw on Germany’s experience on the Security Council mandate particularly with Fiji being the first Pacific Island nation to be elected to the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC), offering strong support to UNHRC initiatives on climate change, environment, and advancement of human rights.
Fiji benefits through Germany’s contributions to the European Development Fund (EDF), which supports development projects in Fiji in the areas of infrastructure, education, vocational training, health care and other key sectors. Fiji established its diplomatic relations with Germany in 1973.