During APEC Leaders Summit informal dialogue, Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka took center stage, urging leaders to take steps to increase climate actions and economic integration in terms of trade and investment with smaller Pacific island nations. He emphasized the critical need for APEC leaders to support the Pacific in addressing the immediate and pressing threat of climate change through mitigation and adaptation measures.

 “Our high disaster risk profile in the Pacific, the lack of access to transformational technologies, and ongoing loss and damage from weather-related events, mean that our ability to transition towards safety, stability, and sustainability is often compromised,” he shared.

“We now need more than just shared values-we need to have strategies and partnerships with adequate and accessible resources to respond to this very existential crisis, which is of no fault of the Pacific island nations.

“It is my hope that we can align our ambitions in ways that are tangible, actionable, and innovative. Our objectives can only be achieved if we, as APEC leaders, take affirmative action and lead the transformation and respond according to the challenges in front of us.”

The dialogue was chaired by the U.S President, Joe Biden.