The Fijian Government intends to reinstate the Hurricane Relief initiative.
Minister for Rural and Maritime Development and Disaster Management, Sakiasi Ditoka mentioned this while meeting the New Zealand High Commissioner to Fiji, H.E. Charlotte Darlow in Suva yesterday.
While outlining some of the potential areas for future collaboration between the two countries, Ditoka said the initiative is part of the coalition Government’s discussion plans.
He said they are working closely with the New Zealand Government in the disaster space, through the National Disaster Management Office (NDMO).
These include assistance in the form of emergency response support, warehousing facility improvement, provision of emergency response sea capabilities, purchase of communications equipment, support towards the annual National Disaster Awareness Week Campaign, and the deployment of technical advisers to support the NDMO in our work in Disaster Risk Management (DRM) and Resilience.
In her remarks during the meeting, Darlow welcomed the discussions by Fiji, and said New Zealand stood ready to support Fiji in whatever way they could.
The two leaders also held discussions on climate mobilisation and migration, peer-to-peer learning and capacity building, maintenance of key strategic assets, asset management, among other things.