Meteorological officers in the Pacific, including Fiji, are urged to take advantage of the new long-term scholarship programme in Japan.

Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) Fiji Office deputy resident representative, Kentaro Suekane, confirmed the programme during the TCT –Training on Himawari Data Analysis with SATAID and Rainfall Monitoring with GSMaP at the Nalagi Hotel, in Nadi yesterday.

In terms of long-term training, the JICA scholarship programme has had some staff with the Fiji Meteorology Services (FMS), Vanuatu Meteorological and Geo-hazards Department, and Solomon Islands Meteorological Services graduating with their Masters degrees from Japan.

“I hope that all the meteorological offices in the Pacific would take advantage of this long-term scholarship programme as well,” Mr Suekane said.

On this note, he also shared two future projects to be implemented in collaboration with FMS and JICA; one of them is the new three-and-half year technical cooperation project focusing on capacity development for meteorological service and as part of its regional mandate for FMS.

FMS and Japan have had long-term collaboration for over 30 years. The collaboration includes the construction of the FMS Headquarters in Nadi as the regional specialised Meteorological Centre for Tropical Cyclone programme.

“We have continued to strengthen our support through various cooperation schemes,” he said.

“I hope more could join some of the trainings offered here once the facilities are completed,” he said.

“We believe that this series of cooperation aligns with Early Warnings for All Initiative and the Weather Ready Pacific Programme and will accelerate its implementation and contribute to the achievement of a more climate-resilient Pacific.”

He thanked FMS and JICA’s Technical Advisor Koji Kuriowa for his assistance in facilitating the nine-day training that started on Monday and would round up next week.

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