Development should be a priority in Pacific: Abel

Business

DEPUTY Prime Minister and Treasurer Charles Abel has told Pacific Islands countries to remain focused on delivering development priorities for the people in these challenging times.
He said this in Port Moresby yesterday when opening the 25th Pacific Financial Technical Assistance Centre (PFTAC) meeting, which focuses on capacity development needs in Pacific island countries.
“The world around us is rapidly changing,” Abel said.
“In recent years, national trade security, geopolitics and natural disasters have greatly impacted nationalism and protectionism, which are reverberating everywhere around the world.
“Even here, the previously calm waters of the Pacific have become turbulent, which shows that we are not immune from such effects.
“At the same time we are also experiencing more and more extreme weather events and disasters.
“The sheer scale of destruction and loss of lives from the cyclone that just swept through Mozambique, Zimbabwe and Malawi is another terrifying testament to the realities of climate change.
“Amidst the turmoil unfolding around us, our biggest challenge at every level is to remain focused and staying true to our development priorities by delivering a better future for our people and our planet through creative and innovative mechanisms that we bring about in such meetings.”
Abel said each PFTAC member country should pursue its own development priorities that were shaped by natural context, but all should be aligned towards securing a sustainable future that was realised through sharing of global ideas.