Delivered by the Secretary General of the Pacific Islands Forum, Baron Divavesi Waqa at the Pacific Infrastructure Conference
18 August 2025, Brisbane, Australia.
Honourable Pat Conroy MP, Australian Minister for Pacific Islands Affairs
Honourable Ministers,
Mr Simon Gorman, President, Australia Pacific Islands Business Council
Excellencies, Members of the Diplomatic Corps
Distinguished Representatives of our Development Partners and of the Business Community,
Distinguished Guests,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
I begin by acknowledging the Traditional Owners of the land on which we meet today, and pay my respects to their Elders—past, present, and emerging.
I bring warm greetings from the Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat and greatly appreciate the opportunity to share the work that the region is doing in support of our 18 member countries.
The Blue Pacific region is one of the most disaster-prone and climate-vulnerable areas in the world. Our communities are routinely impacted by cyclones, sea-level rise, floods, earthquakes, and health-related crises; events that not only endanger lives but also cause severe and lasting economic setbacks.
To put this in perspective:
- Fiji lost 31% of GDP due to Cyclone Winston in 2016;
- The volcanic eruption in Tonga in 2022 resulted in damages equivalent to 18.5% of the country's GDP;
- Compare this to damages amounting to 38% of Tonga’s GDP after Cyclone Gita in 2018;
- Most recently, the 7.3 magnitude earthquake that struck Vanuatu in December 2024 triggered an estimated USD 230 million in recovery costs;
- Vanuatu was still recovering from sustained damages equivalent to 64% of its GDP from Cyclone Pam in 2015;
- Even here in Australia, natural disasters including Cyclone Alfred and major floods across New South Wales and Queensland caused a decline of 2.2 billion Australian dollars in economic activity during the first half of 2025.
Beyond the devastating economic impact of these disasters, the Pacific region faces an urgent infrastructure gap, requiring USD 3.1 billion in investment every year. These facts underscore the urgency and scale of the challenges confronting our region.
At the regional level, Pacific Islands Leaders endorsed the 2050 Strategy for the Blue Pacific Continent in 2022, – which represents a long-term vision for a resilient Pacific Region. As a region, we are not leaving our future to chance and particularly at a time when fiscal challenges globally are being felt.
Infrastructure investments that can support our countries to overcome the challenges of climate change and disaster risks are not necessarily cheap, and neither are they forthcoming in a timely manner.
As part of operationalising the 2050 Strategy, particularly in the context of resilient infrastructure, Pacific Islands Forum Leaders at their 52nd Meeting in 2023 endorsed the Pacific Quality Infrastructure Principles - a set of seven values that define what high-quality infrastructure means for the Blue Pacific.
The PQI Principles also support other key regional frameworks. These include the Framework for Resilient Development in the Pacific (FRDP), and the Pacific Roadmap for Economic Development (PRED), both of which relate to the resource and economic development and the climate change and disaster thematic areas of the 2050 Strategy.
These Principles resonate strongly with the theme of this conference: “Advancing Quality Infrastructure for a Resilient Blue Pacific”. They articulate a shared regional vision for infrastructure that is not only technically sound but also aligned towards the needs of the Pacific people, as well as environmentally and socially responsible and economically sustainable.
Looking ahead, our efforts to operationalise the PQI Principles will focus on four strategic priorities, which, as you will know, are local content, value for money, climate resilience, and responsible borrowing and governance. Our efforts will include strengthening collaboration with national governments and stakeholders to ensure that the PQI Principles are embedded in the relevant national policies and regulations. We will also strengthen the capacity of the implementing agencies at the national level. All these will be done with the assistance of the Infrastructure Adviser (who is here with us today, Ms Titi Tutuvanu-Schwalger), who is already based with the Forum Secretariat in Suva and is already working closely with Forum member countries.
It is also critical that through operationalising the PQI Principles, it facilitates development partners, particularly multilateral and bilateral finance institutions, to align their infrastructure investments with the Principles.
We must also never forget our private sector stakeholders. Their local knowledge and innovation are essential to achieving sustainable outcomes. I am pleased to advise that in reaffirming the critical role of the private sector as an engine of economic growth for the Pacific region, Forum Economic Ministers four weeks ago endorsed the Pacific Regional Private Sector Strategy 2025-2030The Secretariat will soon commence work on preparing a comprehensive and practical Implementation Plan to be tabled for the consideration of the Forum Economic Ministers in 2026. We look forward to your continued support in this regard. It is envisioned that the PQI Principles will complement this Strategy by strengthening private sector engagement in the planning, delivery, and maintenance of quality infrastructure across the region.
Infrastructure plays a key role in all our Forum member development aspirations and any investment in this sector has to be underpinned by the need to ensure our nations and communities’ resilience to economic and climate shocks is strengthened and reinforced.
Before I close, allow me to express my appreciation to the Australia Pacific Islands Business Council for the opportunity to speak and engage with you once again.
To our development partners, we encourage you to continue to collaborate with us in applying the PQI Principles to bear practical solutions to our member countries’ infrastructure challenges. And to the private sector, we look forward to building enduring partnerships that create jobs and grow our local economies.
I wish you all a productive and impactful Conference.
Thank you.
[ENDS]
