On the margins of the 81st session of the United Nations General Assembly, Pacific Islands Forum Secretary General Baron Divavesi Waqa met with Saudi Arabia’s Foreign Minister, Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud.
During the meeting, Secretary General Waqa formally acknowledged and thanked Saudi Arabia for its USD 50 million pledge to the Pacific Resilience Facility (PRF), a Pacific-led financing mechanism designed to help the region withstand and recover from climate shocks and natural disasters.
Waqa noted that Saudi Arabia’s early commitment placed it among the first international partners to back the initiative, calling the contribution a significant vote of confidence in the Pacific’s own approach to resilience financing.
On the margins of the 81st session of the United Nations General Assembly, Pacific Islands Forum Secretary General Baron Divavesi Waqa met with the Foreign Minister of Saudi Arabia, Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud, to advance dialogue on regional resilience and… pic.twitter.com/8qftUuzGeD
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The Secretary General used the meeting to brief the Saudi delegation on progress toward making the PRF fully operational, pointing in particular to the ratification of the PRF Treaty at the 54th Pacific Islands Forum Leaders Meeting held in Solomon Islands.
The ratification is regarded as a milestone in transforming the PRF from concept to functioning institution, giving it the legal and institutional foundation needed to begin disbursing support to Pacific communities.
Both sides underscored the importance of sustained international backing as the PRF works toward its ambitious target of USD 500 million in capitalization.
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With that goal still some distance away, discussions focused on how platforms such as the UN General Assembly can be leveraged to build momentum, attract new partners, and reinforce the PRF’s standing as a global model for regionally owned climate and disaster resilience financing.
The PRF has been positioned by Pacific Islands Forum members as a departure from traditional donor-driven aid structures, giving Pacific nations greater control over how resilience funding is designed, accessed, and deployed.
Its success is widely seen as contingent on broadening its base of international contributors beyond traditional partners, making commitments like Saudi Arabia’s an important signal to other prospective donors.
For Saudi Arabia, the pledge and continued engagement with Pacific leadership reflect a broader push to expand diplomatic and development ties with small island states, an area of growing focus for Gulf states seeking wider international partnerships.
