Initial estimates show that the overall economic impact of hosting the 52nd Annual ADB Meeting in Fiji was around $30-40 million.

This is according to the budget supplements for the 2019/2020 financial year.

It says the tangential benefits have been much larger including marketing Fiji as more than a tourist destination by leveraging the success of the event to promote Fiji as a host country with the capacity and capability to capitalise on the fast‑expanding Meetings, Incentives, Conventions and Exhibitions market.

The report says hosting this event also demonstrated to the world from the larger ADB member countries, to donors, development partners and international media, the catastrophic challenges of climate change and the need for access to grants and concessional financing to address these challenges.

It also gave an opportunity for Fiji to stress the importance of ensuring long term sustainability of key economic sectors such as tourism, and the need to build resilience to extreme climate events which can have catastrophic implications for our largest economic sector.

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