Minister for Women, Children and Poverty Alleviation, Rosy Sofia Akbar, was elected as Vice-Chair of the High Level Intergovernmental Meeting on the Final Review of the Asian and Pacific Decade of Persons with Disabilities, 2013 – 2022, as the meeting opened yesterday in Jakarta, Indonesia.

The first plenary of the High Level Intergovernmental Meeting chaired by Her Excellency, Ibu Tri Rismaharini, Minister of Social Affairs of Indonesia, received Fiji’s nominations, alongside with Maldives, from the delegation of Bhutan, and was supported unanimously by the plenary.

The appointment is a recognition of the Fijian Government’s sterling commitments in the implementation of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD) undertaking noteworthy changes in recent government led policy initiatives and programmes through strong collaborations with CSOs that has brought life changing benefits to the welfare of Fijians with disabilities.

The High Level Intergovernmental Meeting is being convened this week from 19-21 October 2022 on a hybrid mode, pursuant to ESCAP resolution 69/13, in which the Commission decided to mark the conclusion of the Decade in 2022, noting that the rights of persons with disabilities and disability inclusion are integral to the pledge to leave no one behind as set out in the 2030 UN Agenda for Sustainable Development.

Minister Akbar is being supported at the High Level Intergovernmental Meeting by the Fijian Ambassador to Indonesia & Permanent Representative to UNESCAP, His Excellency, Amena Yauvoli, and his team, Mr Lemeki Cagialawa, Executive Director of Fiji’s National Council for Persons with Disability, and Mr Savenaca Tekuku from the Ministry of Women.

Following the election, Minister Akbar delivered Fiji’s national statement, engaged in a bilateral meeting with the Executive Secretary of the UNESCAP, Her Excellency, Ibu Armida Salsiah Alisjahbana, and chaired the afternoon session of day one of the High Level Intergovernmental Meeting.

The High Level Intergovernmental Meeting closes today