Communique issued during 2024 PIRI Meetings in Fiji

In June 2023, at the AFI Pacific Islands Regional Initiative plus (PIRI+) meeting in Seychelles, PIRI+ members adopted the Victoria Consensus on Advancing Responsible and Inclusive Innovation for Financial Inclusion. At the June 2024 PIRI meeting in Fiji, members reaffirmed their commitment to the Sharm El Sheikh Accord, AFI’s overarching global commitment, and agreed to advance it through the Natadola Roadmap for Inclusive Green Finance (IGF) in the Pacific. PIRI is recognized as a strong and crucial initiative within the global AFI network, leading the network’s innovative efforts.

As PIRI drives forward innovative financial inclusion policies and IGF, there is need for enhanced financial and technical support from international development partners and improved donor and stakeholder coordination in the region. With this recognition, the leaders of PIRI call for the following:

1. AFI’s PIRI, which is being implemented with full ownership and leadership of the region’s policymakers, to continue to provide a well-suited platform to strengthen coordination, maximize efficiencies, and scale learnings.
2. The AFI network, which coined the IGF terminology and has championed the implementation of the IGF policy framework, to retain a pivotal role in advancing IGF implementation in the PIRI.
3. Champion the IGF approach, which prioritizes a focus on the most vulnerable groups, where AFI has created a fertile ground upon which multiple partners and stakeholders can contribute to support the implementation of members’ IGF policy objectives and further their own institutional goals and the sustainable development goals (SDGs).
4. Recognize the increasing range of projects by development partners that is presently being implemented or conceptualized for implementation in the period ahead, which can yield highly positive outcomes. However, if development efforts are uncoordinated or conducted in isolation, they can pose the risk of duplication and unequal distribution of resources, resulting in diminished efficiencies.
5. Funding agencies, international development partners, and other implementing agencies who share AFI members’ interest in advancing IGF in the Pacific to consciously and proactively seek to collaborate with This will optimize synergies while mitigating the risk of duplication of efforts and promoting equal distribution and access to resources among members.
6. The international development community to support AFI in its implementation of the Natadola Roadmap to IGF Implementation in the PIRI through the provision of financial and technical resources, which are essential to advance IGF in the region.

The communique was adopted by PIRI members, namely the Reserve Bank of Fiji, Bank of Papua New Guinea, Central Bank of Samoa, Central Bank of Solomon Islands, National Reserve Bank of Tonga, Reserve Bank of Vanuatu, and Central Bank of Seychelles, during the AFI PIRI Leaders’ Roundtable in Natadola, Fiji.