Theme: “Collaborating for Regional Economic Development”
Inaugural Session (Regional Integration and Connectivity)
Honorable Hardeep Singh Puri, Minister of State (Independent Charge) of Housing and Urban Affairs; Minister of State (Independent Charge) of Civil Aviation and Minister of State for Commerce and Industry;
Dr Naushad Forbes Past President CII and Co-Chairman, Forbes Marshall;
Mr Chandrajit Banerjee Director General, Confederation of Indian Industry (CII);
Fellow Ministers of Malaysia, Myanmar and Philippines; and
Ladies and Gentlemen, who are joining us from your respective countries
Bula Vinaka and a very good afternoon from Fiji.
It is my pleasure to join you all on this virtual platform, today. It seems that these webinars and video conferences have become a new normal for all of us nowadays!
It is important to acknowledge the efforts and the creativity of the stakeholders who have gotten together to organise the “First Indo ASEAN Oceanic Business Summit and Expo”, amidst this global pandemic.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
The COVID-19 pandemic has affected almost all economies severely, especially by disrupting the flow of goods and services in the Asian region’s global value chains (GVCs). The pandemic has had serious economic consequences.
Stock markets around the world have plummeted to their lowest levels in a decade. Exchange rates have fluctuated wildly, reflecting the extremely high uncertainty caused by the pandemic. Globally, central banks have been engaged in a race to reduce interest rates. Whilst fiscal authorities have developed generous fiscal packages in a bid to sustain demand and minimise adverse impacts on growth.
The instinctive reaction to the COVID-19 crisis by most countries was to look inward and act alone. As a result, borders have closed, supply chains have been disrupted and regional economic activity has fallen.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
The global growth projections have been revised down to a 5 percent contraction –– the sharpest fall in one hundred years. Looking at the Fijian economy and its heavy reliance on tourism, the largest industry of Fiji being hit the hardest, we are expecting a contraction by 21.7 percent in 2020. This is the largest economic contraction of Fiji, after an unprecedented growth of 10 consecutive years.
Fiji, of course, is not exempt from this pandemic, we recorded our first case on 19 March 2020. We have managed to contain the spread and achieved full recovery through a world-leading testing facility and contact-tracing campaign.
I am pleased to share that Fiji is free from the grips of COVID-19 now and has the status of a “COVID-contained country”. The remaining few cases are border quarantine cases, these cases are from the repatriation flights, bringing our citizens back home.
Despite being a small island developing country with limited resources, Fiji’s decisive, timely and well-measured response to COVID-19 led to the successful containment of the outbreak. But even if Fijians aren’t fighting for their lives attached to ventilators, many of our most important industries have been victims of the most severe global recession in a century; a COVID-fueled collapse for which no nation was prepared.
At a time when the world is facing the pandemic, platforms, such as these and regional integration are most needed. Regional integration projects around the world could help countries jointly meet the challenges of COVID-19.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Whilst we are dealing with unprecedented challenges presented to us by COVID-19, we should not forget that even in normal times, the global trade environment faced serious risks from unilateral actions and reactions. These have led to debilitating implications on the multilateral trading system. Multilateralism and international cooperation were being increasingly called into question. Populism and nationalism were on the rise.
The proliferation of regional trade agreements, which often excluded small island developing nations, like Fiji. Because our market capacity does not provide bigger countries an incentive to include us. There is already a whole web of bilateral and regional free trade agreements emerging in different regions.
Given our small size, it remains a challenge for Fiji to be knitted into the bigger trading blocs, such as Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CP TPP) and Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).
The resistance that geography imposes on trade has been a long outstanding issue and trade intensity is strongly linked to geographical distance. Due to connectivity and distance, Fiji has unique needs and is at risk of being left behind by the current shifts in global trends.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
ASEAN is a learning model for us in the Pacific since it has become a channel for the Southeast Asian region’s small and medium-sized countries to improve their negotiating position with major world powers. Today, ASEAN is at an important crossroads and it is an influential player in the region.
For these reasons, Fiji believes that having regional integration and cooperation with strong voices such ASEAN and India is important to tackle the major global challenges of our time including the COVID-19, which cannot be solved by sole actors, sole islands or sole regions.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
The COVID-19 pandemic has provoked the deepest recession of our lifetime. Looking forward, I have no doubt we need to lay the foundations for strong, sustainable and inclusive economic recovery. To build back better, we need to ensure cooperation and solidarity is at regional and multinational level.
In this regard, since the tourism sector is at halt, with travel restrictions in place and apart from merchandise trade, there has been growing trade in commercial services. The services sector has been rapidly expanding with its growth in IT and Business Process Outsourcing.
India and the Philippines have been the main outsourcing destinations and are also the ones adversely affected due to the pandemic. Fiji provides a lucrative opportunity for investors to consider Fiji as their new, safe and reliable ITC/BPO destination. With a young educated labour force, excellent command of English language and tax incentives for new investments, Fiji presents unique opportunities for potential investments. This Indo-ASEAN-Oceanic Summit and Expo should further provide the B-2-B platform, where knowledge and experiences can be shared. And we small island states can learn and improve on from your experiences.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
The ASEAN region has always been a lucrative tourism market for Fiji and the Pacific. As you know, we have started easing our border restrictions with safe travel protocols. Post-COVID, we intend to welcome the ASEAN and Indian travelers back to Fiji, because we are still a safe destination. Not only are we safe from the health perspective, but we have always been a family friendly destination.
I want to also use this platform to reiterate the importance of global policy coordination to ensure even distribution of medicines and medical products once a COVID-19 vaccine is available. What has been discovered is that when it comes to medical supplies to fight the coronavirus, neither the unrestrained competition of the marketplace nor uncoordinated national government interventions are a satisfactory method to manage scarcity.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
The world has managed extreme conditions before. Leaders of the 1940s reflected on their failure to cooperate after the First World War, how it drove the world into economic catastrophe (the Great Depression) and conflict (the Second World War) and resolved to do better.
They started planning during the war. They knew that cooperation would be essential to rebuild afterwards and to redevelop a global economy within which each country could grow. So, global leaders must begin to plan the post-pandemic cooperation.
Regional cooperation offers critical opportunities of learning from others and to achieve collectively what would not be possible at the individual country level. As the COVID crisis is unique, there are opportunities for a quantum leap in systemic crisis management to be better prepared next time around.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
We will benefit more from exchanges, like today’s event, with regional partners as we confront new challenges during recovery. Regional cooperation in overcoming the crisis and building the post-COVID world makes sense. Paying attention to governance arrangements will play an important role in limiting human losses and keeping societies and economies together.
The opportunities of engaging in collective learning, reducing inequality and contributing to a sustainable world are promising incentives for regionalism. The stakes are high beyond crisis management. In an increasingly bipolar world, regional cooperation may be the only vehicle for many developing countries, like us to have a voice in shaping the global rules of the game.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Having said all of the above, I firmly believe that events such as this, are a pinnacle of working in collaboration and creating a win-win situation, which is the way forward for all of us.
Our presence here today illuminates our strong partnership and Fiji is committed to re-engagement and re-definition of our international relations.
I must reiterate, that in this turbulent time, the only certainty is uncertainty that we face. Hence, in order to overcome that challenge before us, we need to be steadfast, we need to be unified, and committed.
Our thoughts need to be re-engineered, re-designed and innovative, that will bring back our economies to its pre-COVID glory.
Thank you and Vinaka vakalevu!