Minister for Trade Co-operatives SMEs and Communications, Manoa Kamikamica represented Fiji at the second European Union Indo Pacific Meeting at Stockholm, Sweden.

The Stockholm Forum aims to build more sustainable and inclusive prosperity together, pursue green opportunities and overcome global challenges in cooperation and facing jointly the evolving security landscape in the Indo-Pacific.

Kamikamica says Fiji’s participation at the Forum was an opportune time to strengthen relations with the EU countries and also raise some fundamental issues that affects our region.

He adds they strongly advocated on climate change, communal displacement, ease of accessing climate finance and technical assistance, removing of Fiji and fellow SIDs from the EU blacklisting, expediting the finalising of post-Cotonou Agreement and condemning the Russia-Ukraine war.

Kamikami says they took a regional approach by also including the Blue Pacific 2050 Strategy framework and their position solidified with the presence of Vanuatu and Pacific Island Forum States together with Australia and New Zealand.

The Stockholm Forum brought together the Foreign Ministers from the EU and the Indo-Pacific region, representatives of EU institutions and representatives of a number of regional organisations and other partners.