Mr. Sayed-Khaiyum is the Fijian Attorney-General and the Minister for Economy, Public Enterprises, Civil Service, Communications and the minister responsible for climate change. He is the second-ranking elected official in the country. Mr. Sayed-Khaiyum oversaw the creation of a climate change unit in the Office of the Attorney-General to examine legal matters pertaining to climate change that are often omitted from public discussion, such as how to protect the human rights of people who are displaced by the effects of climate change.
He is a strong proponent of climate adaptation and increasing access to climate finance, and is working with governments, multilateral organisations and development banks to allow countries such as Fiji to obtain adequate levels of funding– on the basis of vulnerability – to build their resilience to climate change. He is also leading advocate of granting concessional finance to vulnerable countries in the aftermath of a severe weather event. He completed his Masters’ in Law degree at the University of Hong Kong and his BA from the Australian National University in Canberra, Australia, majoring in political science and development studies.
