About 2000 Fijians will be involved in delivering the 52nd ADB annual meeting- Welch

The Permanent Secretary for the Ministry of Civil Service Bernadette Welch says that about 2000 Fijians will be directly or indirectly involved in delivering the 52nd Asian Development Bank annual meeting from tomorrow.

Welch says they have about 470 volunteers who are mainly from the Universities in the West, 70 liaison officers and about 400 police officers will be used to deliver the event.

She says apart from that they have the hotel staff and their suppliers.

Welch says Fiji will get so much international exposure from this event.

Fiji is the first Pacific Island country that will be hosting the event.

Government officials, development partners, private sector representatives, academics, members of civil society, youth, and the media are expected to be at the meeting.

Key sessions and plenaries will be live streamed on ADB’s website.

Minister for Economy, Aiyaz Sayed‑Khaiyum is the Chairman of the ADB Board of Governors for 2019.

As of last Friday, 2000 people from 80 different countries have registered to be part of the meeting.

The meeting begins tomorrow and will finish on Sunday.

The Annual Meeting is the year’s largest gathering of the organization and an annual opportunity for ADB Governors to engage in a focused discussion on development issues and challenges facing Asia and the Pacific.

The theme of the 2019 Annual Meeting, is “Prosperity Through Unity.”

Among the issues that will be discussed during the event in Nadi are sustainable tourism and its potential to boost national and regional development efforts; the role of private sector financing for disaster risk management and climate resilience in Asia and the Pacific; importance of concerted efforts to improve ocean health; ways to respond to heightening global economic uncertainty; the role of digital technology for financial inclusion; and new tools for sustainable infrastructure development; among others.

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