CSG Patricia Scotland meets Sanaka Samarasinha – United Nations Resident Coordinator

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CSG Patricia Scotland meets Sanaka Samarasinha – United Nations Resident Coordinator


Fiji: Commonwealth Secretary General Patricia Scotland, who attended the Pacific Islands Forum in Suva, met Sanaka Samarasinha, United Nations Resident Coordinator, whose office covers Fiji, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Vanuatu and Tuvalu – among the most disaster prone in the world.

During the meeting, the two discussed various issues of concern and the relationship between the Commonwealth and the United Nations. She said they shared their work with the United Nations Satellite Center – Unosat and UNITAR on joint sensing, which helped governments that used satellite data to build resilience and access funds through the CFAH of the Commonwealth.

Via her social media, CSG Scotland noted: “I met Sanaka Samarasinha, UN Resident Coordinator whose office covers Fiji, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Vanuatu and Tuvalu – among the most prone to disasters in the world”.

She expressed her pleasure to hold an interactive engagement with Sanaka Samarasinha, where they discussed various issues related to the use of satellite data.

CSG Patricia Scotland said: “I have shared our work with the United Nations Satellite Center – Unosat and UNITAR on joint sensing, which helps governments use satellite data to build resilience and access funds through #Commonwealth CFAH.

Additionally, Patricia Scotland held in-depth discussions on building resilience and post-Covid recovery with Attorney General Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum, who is also the minister responsible for climate change.

She pointed out that their discussions were mainly focused on the global problem called climate change and discussed ways to tackle this problem through development actions.

CSG Scotland congratulated the Government of Fiji and added that Fiji’s leadership in climate action in the Commonwealth and beyond is commendable.

Paricia Scotland expressed their pleasure to meet Katherine Cooke, our Commonwealth National Climate Finance Advisor based in Min. of Economy and to learn more about the Commonwealth CFAH’s work to help the government access climate finance.

To date, the Commonwealth Finance Access Hub has secured the ~US$50m for small states + US$762m in the pipeline.