Pacific / Fiji

Fiji pleads for climate lobby support from Aus and NZ

18:47 pm on 5 July 2017

Fiji's Prime Minister has pleaded with Australia and New Zealand to work side by side with Pacific nations in persuading the world to tackle the causes of climate change.

He made this statement while closing the Climate Action Pacific Partnership event at the Grand Pacific Hotel in Suva on Tuesday.

Mr Bainimarama also thanked Australia and New Zealand for lending a helping hand to Fiji when it was struck by Tropical Cyclone Winston in 2016.

Fiji Prime Minister Frank Bainimarama addressing climate change talks consultations in Bonn, May 2017 Photo: Supplied

Present at the event was Australia's Minister for International Co-operation and the Pacific, Concetta Fierravanti-Wells. However, the Deputy Prime Minister for New Zealand, Paula Bennett had already left Fiji.

"Geography binds us together in perpetuity and while we may have our own differences of emphasis and opinion, we have shared a destiny that also binds us together," Mr Bainimarama said.

"Not only to preserve the multilateral consensus for decisive action but to build our resilience," he said.