Venue: Albert Park Lounge , Suva
President of the Fiji Chamber of Commerce and Industry;
FCCI Members;
Business Executives;
Invited Guests;
Ladies and Gentlemen;
Bula vinaka and a very good evening to all of you.
It is indeed a pleasure for me to be here to officiate at the 2017 Fiji Chamber of Commerce and Industries Annual General Meeting.
Ladies and Gentlemen
Two weeks ago, Parliament approved Fiji acceding to the United Nations Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods. Fiji consenting to the Convention is extremely important as this would;
- Provide international best practices and standard in relation to international trade,
- Avoid disputes, particularly during the negotiation phase on the choice of law applicable to contracts of sale,
- Allow for State Parties to have an equal and fair system for the settlement of disputes relating to the International Sale of Goods,
- Strengthen co-operation and encourage international trade between State Parties to the Convention.
- Apply to Contracts for the Sale of International Goods which will be a uniform approach to the application of private international law.
While the purpose of the Convention is to provide a modern, uniform and fair tax of law for contracts with international sale of goods, reduce barriers in international trade and promote the use and development of international trade, it’s contribution is significant in terms of introducing certainty in commercial exchanges, decreasing transaction costs which facilitates the ease of trading across the borders.
Ladies and Gentlemen
The Convention to date has 85 member states, including most trading countries accounting for more than two-thirds of global trade. A number of Fiji’s main trading and development partners such as the People’s Republic of China, the Republic of Korea, Singapore, USA, Japan, Australia, New Zealand, France, Germany and Brazil are all parties to the Convention.
Fiji does not have specific legislation that addresses the needs of modern cross-border commercial practice and therefore, accession to the Convention will help bring Fiji’s Laws and Practice in alignment with international standards. It will also give a lot of confidence to people who will trade with Fiji.
Ladies and Gentlemen
I wish to reiterate the words of the Hon. Prime Minister that “Fiji is open for business” and Fiji acceding to the Convention is a clear indication. However, one must not forget that Fiji would need to put in extra effort to ensure we comply with the standards set. Therefore, in order to achieve this, we need to work together to provide products and services that are benchmarked to international standards, which consumers and tourists are willing to pay for – at the best price.
Ladies and Gentlemen
It is extremely important that the Chamber of Commerce work in collaboration with the Government. Not only will this benefit the business community, but the people and the economy as a whole.
Ladies and Gentlemen
Allow me to share with you examples of the good collaboration and relationship the Chamber of Commerce has with their respective Governments. In Majorca or Mallorca (part of Spain), the regional government and the Majorca Chamber of Commerce are working together on business creation, training and internationalization. Furthermore, they are working together in order to rationalize for what will be of benefit for businesses.
While the Chamber of Commerce is working on ways of improving coordination to avoid duplication, the Government on the other hand is working with the individual Chambers of Commerce on the islands in order to adapt the Balearic regulations to the national law that deals with the chambers of commerce.
Another good example is Australia. Since the introduction of the iconic green-and-gold Australian Made, Australian Grown (AMAG) logo by the Federal Government in 1986, the logo has been helping businesses to clearly identify to consumers that their products are Australian.
While the logo was administered and promoted by the not-for-profit Australian Made Campaign Limited (AMCL), the Australian Chamber and the National Member Network were the foundation members of AMCL. Therefore, as the national and international voice of Australian business, the Australian Chamber continues to strongly support the campaign and the logo, as it provided consumers with a highly recognised (98 per cent) and trusted (88 per cent) symbol for genuine Aussie products and produce.
Ladies and Gentlemen
The end result of such collaborations speaks volume with far much greater impacts both directly and indirectly.
Ladies and Gentlemen
Whilst the Fijian Government is providing an enabling environment, in terms of investment incentives, such as lowest corporate taxes, tax free regions, duty free imports of machineries and investment input, we need the private sector to come forward and contribute by improving their standards and conduct of business. This is where the Fiji Chamber of Commerce and Industry (FCCI) and the Industry Associations can play an important role.
Ladies and Gentlemen
The Fijian Government will continue to undertake reforms to create an even more enabling and conducive business environment. In July last year, we launched an online investment approval system that will allow foreign investors to obtain approvals from all tier one investment approval agencies at a one stop shop. This will significantly help to improve the ease of doing business. This same platform will be extended to domestic investors that will allow proper tracking of their investments approval process.
The Fijian economy is going through an unprecedented period of boom and growth. Never before, in Fiji’s post-independence history has there been three consecutive years of above 4 percent growth rate. In fact, the average growth rate for 2013 and 2014 was 5 percent, which is a unique situation. It should be noted that in October 2015, the IMF, World Economic Outlook revised the global growth downwards from 3.3 percent to 3.1 percent.
Hence, to further boost investments especially in the tourism industry and to achieve the ultimate goal of improved investments we need to work together to improve the ease of doing business.
Ladies and Gentlemen
The tourism industry has never been more buoyant as the annual figures recorded a 5 percent growth in visitor arrivals or a total of 792, 320 visitors for 2016, compared to 754, 835 in 2015. The growth trajectory for visitor arrivals is expected to continue and without a doubt, we will surpass the forecasted visitor arrivals of 831, 936 for this year. The tourism sector is still the highest foreign income earner. In 2015, tourism earnings were around $1.56 billion, a 10.3 percent increase from $1.40 billion recorded in 2014.
The Fijian Government is confident that tourism will maintain its status as Fiji’s largest economic sector, contributing around 30percent towards the nation’s Gross Domestic Product.
Ladies and Gentlemen
Whilst we welcome foreign investments, the Government is ensuring that developments are carried out in a sustainable manner, which follows stringent standards and practices. In this regard, the Ministry has embarked on the development of Fiji’s National Tourism Development Plan also known as the Fijian Tourism 2021, the objectives of which are to:
- Support development of a sustainable and inclusive tourism sector;
- Catalyse visitor expenditure and tourism yield; and,
- Create a conducive environment for sustainable increase in visitor arrivals.
For the past few weeks, the Ministry has been conducting consultations with stakeholders on this Plan, which will guide the tourism industry in achieving the target of FJD$2.2 billion by 2021.
In the realisation of this target, the Ministry through an integrated multi-pronged approach will work in a coordinated and concerted manner with all relevant Government, non-government organizations and of course, you our private sector stakeholders.
Ladies and Gentlemen
The Government will continue to develop and value-add to our current tourism products, to build an industry that is resilient, productive and focuses on quality. Therefore, the Tourism Plan identifies a number of key products such as MICE segment and Sports Tourism, which contributes to the social, cultural, economic and infrastructural development of the country.
Sports tourism is regarded as a high value market given its potential to increase visitor numbers and spend, especially during off-peak season. It is for this reason that we will continue to invest in this market as the benefits derived are both measurable and incalculable, in terms of:
- International marketing mileage
- Raising Fiji’s profile and ability to host events of international standards
- Attracting interest and investment from international sporting institutions
- Attracting sports tourists
- Boosting economic activity
- Benefiting local communities and
- Providing a platform to incorporate social and cultural features of Fiji into the overall tourist experience.
Furthermore, as identified in the Tourism Plan, having the right infrastructure, connectivity and accessibility are crucial in attracting new segments of visitors. For example, the $105 million investment in the refurbishment of the Nadi Airport, has modernised our international gateway and will lift the standards of our airport services and aviation industry, making it globally competitive.
The Ministry, through Investment Fiji, will also strengthen engagement with all stakeholders to facilitate and fast-track foreign direct investments. Therefore, in order to attract high-yielding visitors, Fiji needs to also provide world-class shopping experience. In this regard, the new proposed Services and Manufacturing Zone in Lautoka will potentially cater for such investments.
Ladies and Gentlemen
In ensuring that the benefits of the tourism dollar is spread widely throughout the Fijian economy, the Government retained more of the tourism revenue and strengthen linkages with other sectors, such as agriculture.
So to complement this, the Government is also looking at strengthening support mechanisms for Micro, Small and Medium tourism operators to ensure their continued contribution and competitive market presence in Fiji’s tourism industry.
Ladies and Gentlemen
The development of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprise (MSME) is also an integral part of the Fijian Tourism 2021. Through the Micro and Small Business Grant (MSBG) scheme the Ministry has been able to provide support to micro and small businesses in the tourism sector. Since 2015, MSBG has attracted 44,660 applications throughout the country.
This demonstrates that around 6 percent of the population have interest in doing business. Having said that, I am sure this is a positive outcome for FCCI as well, given that it advocates policies that improve the business climate and contribute to the sustainable development of companies of all sizes and sectors, but predominantly SME’s.
A total of 19,532 applications have been approved to date. For this year, the Ministry has so far given out grants to 769 recipients in the North. Further to the earlier mentioned, an additional 549 recipients received their grants from the Hon. Prime Minister three weeks ago in Navua. I am happy to say that the programme is achieving the desired results of improving the livelihoods of all Fijians, with the initiative having a direct impact on the lives of 35,855 ordinary Fijians.
Ladies and Gentlemen
The Government will continue to prioritise the development of MSMEs through making allocation in form of the Micro and Small Business Grant (MSBG). It is our expectations that more women and youth who are very productive can also tap into the MSBG resources. We believe that our women and youth are very innovative, resources, hardworking and have new ideas to contribute to the development of the Fijian economy. The growth of community based projects and ecotourism ventures have a great opportunity to promote products and we are creating new economic activities using existing industries. Moreover, through Government’s support we are encouraging the business community to continue this partnership.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
In terms of supporting industry and business development, the Government has introduced and implemented a number of pro-business, investment friendly policies, which has resulted in the growth of the various sectors, such as, – dairy, textile, garment, footwear and manufacturing sector in general.
This has seen an increase in the manufacturing sector contribution to the economy and the Government will continue to support the manufacturing sectors’ contribution to the economy by encouraging investments into new subsectors. We believe that this is a meaningful way of increasing the sector’s employment contribution to the economy.
Having said that, the Government continued to channel its financial assistance to the Textile Clothing and Footwear sector through the TCF Council. Last year, the Government provided a grant of $50,000 to the TCF Council and will provide the same for this year. This is to assist the TCF sector achieve its target, which is to generate exports of up to $150 million for the next 2 years and further increase the employment levels. Currently, the TCF industry employs around 7,000 employees and 70 percent of those employees are women.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
In order to ensure that businesses are well facilitated and standards elevated and stimulate a cross-sector approach and cooperation between private parties and individuals, the Government had extended a grant facility to five professional bodies. The Fiji Institute of Engineers received a grant of $30,000, the Fiji Architect Association with $20,000, the Association of Registered Hairdressers and Beauticians with $20,000, the Fiji Institute of Quantity Surveyors with $10,000 and the Fiji Masters Builders Association with a grant of $10,000.
This allocation is to assist in capacity building programs designed to raise the standards of service delivery of the members of professional associations, with the hope that it will benefit the Fijian people and the economy as a whole.
Ladies and Gentlemen
I understand that the main role of the FCCI is to promote a positive environment for businesses and to defend the rights of entrepreneurs. This is a very important role as you serve as a bridge between the private sector, various stakeholders and the Government. Furthermore, you offer an influential and respected channel for supplying business leadership to help the Government manage those shifts in a collaborative manner for the benefit of the national economy and regional economy as a whole.
Furthermore, the growth of the economy is a partnership – the Government being the enabler of growth and the private sector as the drivers of growth. The economy cannot take leaps and strides if one of the two components are dysfunctional.
Therefore, the Fijian Government will continue to provide support and at the same time listen to what the industries have to say. We strongly believe that FCCI has the potential to grow in every way and will continue to contribute to the economic development and attractiveness of our region.
Ladies and Gentlemen
With those words, it gives me great pleasure to now officially open the 2017 FCCI Annual General Meeting.
Vinaka Vakalevu. Thank You.