Issues relating to doing business in the country got underway in Suva today.
The Fiji Business Forum saw private sector representatives, senior government officials and policymakers gather to discuss ways to improve the ease of doing business.
Discussions held by these business and trade stakeholders will also be part of their submission to Government on the National Budget for 2016.
Opening the Forum, Acting Prime Minister highlighted to these business people the growth of the Fijian economy over the years.
Government also reassuring that the efficiencies and ease of doing business in the country is an area being worked on.
” We have been able to do so when there was a lot of negativity around when there was various bans in place by our friends Australia and New Zealand in particular but it also limited our ability to source from a wider pool of people to be able to carry out the reforms that we wanted to carry out including from the civil service to state owned enterprise and various other institutions generally. So what has led to that success? I think fundamentally it was more of a vision to see how we can best work with our resources that we have been given and also to be able to identify that there are various strengths and weaknesses that we have a comparative advantage if you like. So for the next few years we as government are solely focused on of course improving efficiencies,” said the Acting Prime Minister Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum.
Speaking on the Pacific and global economy, ANZ Chief Executive says Vishnu Mohan says there has been a substantial increase in interest shown by foreign investors.
” Fiji is extremely well poised, our view is that while PNG and perhaps New Caledonia which is rich in resources , they also have GDP per capita of $38,000 they will dominate in terms of natural resources activity, commodities and minerals , Fiji has the capacity to pick up the hub of the South Pacific that’s what we need to focus on “
Representatives of various businesses, associations and public officials have been urged to work together for the benefit of the national economy.
” This forum is about addressing each other in finding solutions by defining policies and correcting anomalies for business simplicity in order to increase investment, create jobs and stimulate economic growth,” said Arvind Maharaj, the President pf the Fiji Business Forum 2015
” It is not a time to be negative , to grow we must be positive. All of the public servants present here work with us,” added Peter Mazey, the President of the Fiji Chamber of Commerce.
” Lets make today our focus on improving the delivery mechanisms on public service, identifying the problems and obstacles to service delivery , exchange ideas on how we can as a collective transfer the knowledge and skills to achieve our common goal of economic growth, ” added Nur Bano Ali, the President of the Suva Chamber of Commerce.
A communique on the discussions is expected to be finalized this evening.