Your Excellency;
Distinguished Guests;
Ladies and Gentlemen
Bula vinaka, Namaste and a very good evening to you all.
At the onset, please allow me to convey the apologies and best wishes of the
Minister for Industry, Trade and Tourism. The Minister wanted to be here
today, but due to an urgent commitment she could not be. This would have
been her first ITEC Day.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
For more than 5 decades, the ITEC Programme has been a model of South-
South cooperation and this constitutes a mainstay in the long standing
relationship between India and Fiji.
Fiji has benefited from trainings of Government officials, deputation of experts from India, as well as project financing and studies, through the ITEC programme. For the last 2 years, more than 100 Fijians participated in the training programmes offered under ITEC and it’s encouraging to see young Fijian men and women utilising the trainings offered.
ITEC sponsored fellowships have helped improve the skills base of the public sector in a wide range of specialised areas, such as public sector
administration, banking and finance and ICT.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Yesterday, the Indian High Commissioner presented a cheque to the Fijian
Government to assist the Fijian Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs). This portrays the continued confidence of the Indian Government in the Fijian Government’s policies and initiatives for the MSMEs.
To date, through the Government’s Micro and Small Business Grant initiative, we have assisted 36,000 micro and small enterprises who have now graduated from the informal to formal sector. Out of these 36,000 businesses, the Indian Government has given support to over 6,300 micro and small businesses.
The Fijian Government’s focus is on MSMEs because we believe that MSMEs are the bedrock for innovation and new ideas.
In this regard, the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Tourism looks forward to engaging with the Indian Government on provision of technical training to the successful micro and small businesses. We have yesterday initiated discussions on possible areas where the Indian Government can provide assistance to elevate the initiatives for the MSME sector to the next level.
And we strongly believe that the ITEC Programme can become an avenue through which specialised training programmes for MSMEs can be developed and rolled-out.
Ladies and Gentlemen, We are confident that through the ITEC programme, Fiji and India can jointly work towards the economic prosperity of Fiji and empower our grassroot communities with specialised skills. For those of you who have attended ITEC trainings, I am sure that you have all benefitted from the knowledge and experience you’ve gained in India and have passed on the knowledge and new skills to your colleagues. By doing this, you are contributing to the professional development of not only your organisation but your country in turn, contributing positively to the development, progress and prosperity of Fiji and all Fijians. Ladies and Gentlemen, Trade is not the only means to link countries around the world. Technical cooperation, skills and knowledge transfers, people-to-people connection, to name a few are making the world draw closer. Partnership with the Government of India is an important pillar of Fiji’s foreign policy. We are indeed grateful that, in their own way, India shares with us their technology, knowledge and experience that supports us in our development. Therefore, for those of you who have personally been a part of this sharing and learning, I am sure that you have also imbibed a greater understanding of India and will act as a bridge to foster even closer bilateral relations between our two countries. Ladies and Gentlemen, Coming back to today’s event, I encourage all past and present ITEC participants to continue the great work and be good ambassadors of the ITEC programme.
With those words, I congratulate the Government of India for the ITEC Programme and thank His Excellency for the tremendous contribution, India continues to make towards our development.
Vinaka Vakalevu. Thank You.