Bula Vinaka Ladies and Gentlemen,
It is always a pleasure to be with the Fijian business community, our key stakeholders.
Firstly, we thank the Fiji Chamber of Commerce and Industry (FCCI) for their partnership in navigating the business community through the pandemic. Never before have we seen or experienced such partnership. The Government and FCCI – along with other business related Apex Bodies – worked together, as one team, to steer the economy and expedite our recovery efforts.
We are in the third year of the pandemic and our businesses have shown a tremendous amount of resilience to the constantly changing global and domestic environment.
Hence, we would like to hear your point of view on how things have progressed over time. What has been your experience in the last two years? What you feel, we need to improve.
At the same time, today we want to share our vision of what is the “future of business” in Fiji.
The Hon. Attorney-General and Minister for Economy, has highlighted some of the key areas. I want to give you a very focused update in terms of doing business in Fiji. Whether it is to do with:
- reopening of the tourism industry,
- Remaining attractive to foreign investors,
- support for businesses, especially MSMEs, generally and for compliance with COVID safe protocols,
- reforms of government processes, and
- Diversification of the economy base and improving market access conditions.
As a small market economy, we need to muster agility and fortitude to adapt to external volatility and stay ahead. We continue to reconfirm our position as a stable business, trade and transportation hub. This includes steadily reopening our borders, strategising resilience to COVID-19 and attracting investments from around the world.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Last year, we set a target to achieve 80 percent full vaccination of our eligible adult population by October. And we did, ahead of most of the advanced economies.
What that meant for us was, easing public health measures, restoring our freedom and most importantly – it meant Fiji was safe enough to open its borders.
Since re-opening our international borders to Travel Partners – we welcomed almost 40,000 (39,728) international visitors in December and January. That’s an incredible feat considering we were also dealing with the global impacts of the Omicron variant, and again by a Tropical Cyclone (TC Cody).
From the initial 14 Travel Partners, today, we have 66 – including almost all our key trading, especially our Pacific Island neighbours.
What these numbers mean for Fiji is — more Fijians going back to work, businesses recovering and new ones opening up and restoring the near third of our GDP sector.
The recovery we have seen is primarily based on the US and half of Australia markets alone. Since then, we have seen more of Australia open up. And as of March, New Zealand, our second largest visitor market has opened. So we’re looking at more visitors.
We’re reviewing the requirement of a three-night stay at a Care Fiji Certified hotel. Instead, we are now looking at visitors – particularly returning residents and those coming to visit family – to have the option to go straight home, so long as they have a pre-booked COVID-19 test within 48 hours of landing in Fiji. This will make us even more competitive. We are finalising the logistics for this and we expect an announcement very soon.
When the tourism sector recovers – so do other supporting ones like agriculture, construction, retail, transport, arts and entertainment. More money flows into the economy, more jobs are created, more MSMEs grow.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
In order to make our recovery more robust, we kept the MSMEs afloat or provided opportunities for new MSMEs to open.
For example, through the concessional loan programme, that FCCI was an integral part of, we have assisted approximately 6,000 MSMEs to either continue their business or to start a business, valued at $32.5 million. Of this 3,082 or 45 percent were women entrepreneurs.
To encourage more businesses, we have since 2019, streamlined and removed bureaucracy from starting a business process. The removal of business license, the move to risk-based opening of businesses, concession for home-based businesses, online companies/business and tax registration and most importantly the launch of the doing business portal – bizFIJI.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
This is not our final destination in terms of doing business reforms. As of November 2021, we have moved to the next level of reforms – Project bizFIJI 2.0. Simply said our focus is on making individual processes and systems a lot easier to make doing business easier.
In the coming months, the processes for starting a business and building permits will be digitalised, making applications and approvals easier. You will have the ability to track your application. And you will have a more efficient, responsive and accountable government service.
To make this happen we need your cooperation and support – to have the best systems and processes in place.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Let me now talk about trade. Given our small domestic market, global connectivity is essential for the growth of our businesses. Hence, we are proactively strengthening our regional economic integration by undertaking comprehensive reviews of existing trade agreements, improving trade facilitation, building strategies for digital commerce and looking at ways of building collective strategies to promote regional commodities.
The trade of high value-low weight niche commodities is important for a country like Fiji, because of our distance from major markets and the rising high cost of freight costs globally. Innovation is key for business survival.
Whilst we are providing opportunities for businesses, we must think about the new waves of opportunities and our ability to survive future shocks. In this regard, new markets for Fijian made products and services, diversification of our economic base, with a strong focus on sustainability and digitalisation, is critical.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
We’re looking at diversification on all fronts. That means, refocusing on our supply chain. We have made it cheaper to bring goods that are not available in Fiji. And for those that are available, e.g tomatoes, we’re encouraging more MSMEs to supply to the hotel sectors. We’re diversifying ourselves so that our industries are self-sufficient.
Digitalisation is a secular trend that will disrupt our industries. There is a strong focus on e-commerce as it has the potential to fundamentally transform how we do business with the world. As we invest in digitalisation, there has been an increase in demand for services such ICT/BPO, marketing and consultancy. Fiji has also benefited from nearshoring due to the pandemic, moving production processes and business operations closer to home, creating close to 5,000 jobs for a young workforce.
During the pandemic, the ICT and BPO sector has strengthened its position in Fiji. With the unfolding COVID-19 crisis, many businesses were forced to adapt fast, as countries in Asia were hit hard. The BPO companies in Fiji showed resilience and adaptability that was not possible for Asian countries
When you talk about the future of business, these are the emerging sectors and areas where Fiji can jump on. I recently met with Telstra in this area. If we harness these sectors, we are looking at thousands of more jobs. Again, that’s the future of business in Fiji.
So you see, many avenues have sprung from the pandemic. We are fortunate that this Government has created a landscape and infrastructure to see new, stronger areas of business.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
The Fijian Government has come forward to provide vital support to help businesses through the past two-years. We recognise that economic recovery has been uneven across various sectors, and we will continue to extend assistance in a targeted manner.
The future of business and opportunities is dependent on the ability of all players to work together towards a common vision. A vision for a brighter and better Fiji for all.
In conclusion, I want you all to reflect on the present global situation, as it provides many essential lessons for both the Governments and entrepreneurs. We as a nation, as one team, must remember that:
- economic recovery must be green, resilient, inclusive and sustainable;
- adoption of digital technology is no longer an option, it is imperative; and
- we must move quickly to mobilise our resourcefulness and innovation to acquire the cream of the global recovery spillover benefit.
I look forward to constructive discussions and ideas from the members of FCCI for the betterment of all. Vinaka Vakalevu and thank you.