Page 24 - IB September 2018 Edition

Finance

UNESCAP to engage

more with PICs

By Dionisia Tabureguci
A closer engagement with Pacific island nations is on the agenda
for the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia
and the Pacific (UNESCAP), says its Officer-in-Charge for Asia
and the Pacific Hongjoo Hahm.
After an official visit to Fiji last month, Hahm told the local Officer-in-Charge of the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and
media that the organisation expects to be more active in the areas the Pacific (UNESCAP) Hongjoo Hahm talks to the press during an official visit to Fiji
recently
Photo: IB
of climate change, statistics and financial inclusion, with a special
emphasis on gender involvement.
“This office (UNESCAP’s Suva office) has done a study with the UNESCAP, he said, was impressed with Fiji’s pioneering
University of the South Pacific on climate change and mitigation. sovereign green bond offer late last year, which saw it mobilise
It’s a big issue for the region – how will it affect society, how will F$100 million (US$50m) to fund climate change mitigation
it affect the economy, how do we mitigate and adapt to these is- related projects.
sues? So we’re doing some research on this and we’re trying to The groundwork of Fiji’s successful offer was put in place by
develop further projects like climate finance project of supporting the International Finance Corporation in a collaboration that
Fiji issue a second green bond for example. So there are various included the World Bank, the Government of Australia and the
activities related to climate change, both on a financial level and Fiji Government.
on implementation level as well as from a disaster mitigation Historically, climate related financing has eluded Pacific Island
level,” Hahm said. countries, who have found it difficult to access them, some citing
rigorous qualification requirements and too many red tapes as
reasons why they give up on trying.
UNESCAP believes the solution lies in sovereign green bond,
as has been proven by Fiji to work.
“Fiji today is the only country in the Pacific that has issued a
sovereign green bond and we hope that it can be replicated, maybe
in a pooled structure, in other Pacific islands as well,” Hahm said.
“That’s why we’re interested. It’s not just a best practice ex-
ample that we can replicate, it’s something that we need to do
again and again to increase revenues that is necessary for the
expenditure needs for mitigation and adaptation,” he added.
In the area of statistics – the availability of reliable and up to
date statistics is also a weakness for countries in the region –
UNESCAP is expected to strengthen its involvement and support.
“We need to have statistics that we can use to cross compare
across countries, not just countries within the Pacific but the
Pacific with Asia, Pacific with the world,” said Hahm.
“It’s called harmonising official statistics so we can cross com-
pare. We’re working to support Fiji to really develop and gather
good data, to analyse the data well, such that we can have data
that can be used to make better evidence-based policy decisions.
And we’re also looking to see how we focus a bit more on oceans
data because it’s so relevant in this region.”
In the past, UNESCAP’s work in the region has more or less
focused on social issues, with causes like disability, inclusiveness
and gender empowerment and participation high on its agenda.
It expects to add another dimension to this by supporting
efforts linked to financial access by Micro, Small and Medium
Enterprises (MSMEs).
While in Fiji, Hahm discussed this with Fiji’s government of-
ficials, including Acting Prime Minister Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum
and Reserve Bank of Fiji Governor Ariff Ali.

24 Islands Business, September 2018