To the Trustees of First Nation Resources Foundation,

Invited Guests and Virtual Participants,

Our friends from the Media,

Ladies and Gentlemen,

 

Bula Vinaka and a very good morning to you all.

Firstly, thank you for the invitation. It is indeed a pleasure to be here with you all. As I look around the room, I see a lot of dedicated people, blessed with good will and the right energy to get your movement going.

But in order to leverage the goodwill and energy at our disposal, as your Government we must provide the enabling environment for you, as resource owners to grow and thrive.

 

GOVERNMENT ACHIEVEMENTS

Since taking office, your Government has reset a number of things that were impeding the development of resource owners. There was a total disregard of the Vanua.  As people of the Vanua, we all know that as I-taukeis we cannot separate ourselves from the Vanua – we are one!

This is why we have undertaken the following:

• Re-introduction of the Great Council of Chiefs or the GCC. This was done to stabilise the Vanua structures and further the resource owner’s development.

 

• Held the National Economic Summit that had a pillar/chapter on resource owner’s advancement.

 

• Removed the Soli ni Yasana.

 

• Removed TELS – that burdened our young Fijians with debt.

 

• We have amended the Electoral Registration of Voters Act to enable the ease of voting of our young women, our sisters, mothers and grandmothers – particularly those living in the remote and rural parts of Fiji.

 

• And formally rendered invalid the infamous “Bill 17” or Act 2022 of 2021.

I am sure that this Forum can agree these are progressive steps in building the resilience of the I-taukei. In fact, those laws should not have been there in the first place!

 

PIVOT TOWARDS RESOURCE OWNERSHIP AND UNDERSTANDING WHAT WE HAVE

Ladies and Gentlemen,

It’s also important to take stock of what we have and where we are at:

• I-taukei have more than 90 percent of land;
• I-taukei are close to 60 percent of population;
• According ADB and World Bank reports says that Fiji has close to 25 percent of population in poverty; and
• Just to add another stat – our MSMEs contribute 18 percent towards GDP.

From an economic perspective this matrix needs to change, particularly the 25 percent of those in poverty and gradually increase MSME contribution towards GDP from 18 percent to possibly 50 percent.

 

HOW CAN WE IMPROVE THIS?

Integrating and better coordinating the i-taukei institutions such as Ministry of I-taukei Affairs, I-taukei Trust Fund Board, Provincial Councils, I-taukei Land Trust Board, Centre for Appropriate Technology and Development – Nadave Technical School, to name a few. This is something we have already started with the land owner resources forum held a few months ago.

However, the information and assistance needs to be able to trickle down to our resource owners.

When talking about economic progress at Vanua based meetings such as Bose Ni Koro or Bose Ni Yasana, economic diversification of the community must be on the agenda.

For instance, we can revive our ‘once thriving industries’ such as cocoa farming and banana farming. Right now we have award winning chocolate brands in Fiji but our local chocolate makers have to import cocoa from PNG and other countries.

Another sector we must better coordinate and strengthen is the creative arts industry – whether it’s our artists, artisans, musicians or dancers, we must develop and harness their skills better and provide market opportunities at the right pricing.

Talking about the blue economy, we can look at the seaweed, nama, oysters and pearls to name a few. There are established markets for these products and we just need to take a targeted approach to better link our resource owners to the markets.

Ultimately, if we are able to develop an integrated ecosystem of the supply chain of different products, we will clearly know where resource owners fit and how they can move up the supply chain.

We are also working on progressing connectivity to our underserved communities as digital technologies can provide immense opportunities to improve our collective wellbeing– both socially and economically.

We see this with the increasing use of e-wallets like how M-PAISA and MyCash have transformed how we do business in the communities. The launch of the M-PAISA Mastercard which provides enhanced access to global services and products digitally.  There is also the “Sole App”, developed by our local businessman particularly to help us in our savings.

 

WORKING WITH THE GOVERNMENT AND PRIVATE SECTOR

Ladies and Gentlemen,

It’s important for Forums such as today’s – to convey these simple messages.  This is such a great opportunity and I hope the Secretariat is able to take notes and prepare a “Plan of Action” after this Forum.

As a Ministry, we would be happy to contribute to the action plan as well and assist the First Nation Group in advancing their economic empowerment goals.

For example, one way to improve governance structure and commercial viability of commercial ventures is by adopting a co-operative business model. I understand the Department of Co-operatives will be presenting on Wednesday – so please feel free to ask them as many questions as possible.

In addition to that – within Government, there is close to $80 million worth of assistance available – across different Ministries.

We are also working with Fijian Holding Limited, Merchant Finance and I-taukei Trust Finance Board on developing a solesolevaki framework to unlock $80 million worth of financing for resource owners.

Apart from this, there are business development services available with Business Assistance Fiji and business accelerator programmes available with Fiji Enterprise Engine, GGGI and the UNDP. Donor agencies are also available to assist the Government in meeting their priorities.

 

SUSTAINABLE PRACTICES

However, we cannot exploit and deplete our God given resources. We must adopt sustainable practices and get advice from the experts. Not those that will take advantage of you!

We have seen countless examples where resources have been exploited and damaged under the pretence of ‘development’ and we cannot let this continue.

We must find the right balance to economically progress and improve our livelihoods and also sustain our resources. A good example is how a few co-operatives in Vanua Levu are engaged in carbon trading. By conserving their forests which emit oxygen that reduces carbon footprint and get compensated accordingly. And they have diversified into honey production to earn a sustainable level of income instead of cutting down trees.

Therefore, Ladies and Gentlemen,

In closing, I thank the First Nation Resources Foundation for organising such an important Forum.  I hope you will be able to host similar forums in other parts of Fiji and closer to other resource owners.

It is also important to keep dialogue going and convert these dialogues into action plans which need to be implemented as well.

Vinaka Vakalevu and all the best for the coming days.