End-of-Week statement by Ho...

Thank you, Honourable Speaker, the Honourable Prime Minister, Honourable Deputy Prime Minister, the Honourable Ministers and Assistant Ministers, Members of Parliament, fellow Fijians, good morning and Ni sa Bula Vinaka. Honourable Speaker, before I rise to deliver my end-of-week statement, I wish to place on record my acknowledgement and pay tribute to my former personnel assistant, Agnes Shalini-John, who passed away last week. We laid her to rest on Tuesday this week, Honourable Speaker.

Agnes had served 34 years of unbroken service to the Government of Fiji, serving three Ministers with distinction, all three of which remain in Parliament as of now, the Honourable Pramila Kumar, the Honourable Faiyaz Koya, and myself. On behalf of the people of Fiji and the Honourable Prime Minister, I wish to place on record my gratitude for the service of Agnes to this country, and more importantly, to her husband, Lawrence, and the John and Chand families for allowing us to have Agnes serve us and serve the country for those so many years, Honourable Speaker, three decades in fact, Honourable Speaker.

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Simply put, to genuinely re-engineer the economic architecture of Fiji and broaden its base. I have in this august chamber said that this side of the House brought back real democracy to Fiji, Honourable Speaker. Equally, Honourable Speaker, this side of the House has started delivering real, genuine economic diversification for Fiji.

The building blocks have been put in place, which will set up this country in the years to come. Allow me to explain, sir. When the People's Coalition took office in December 2022, it viewed economic diversification as a key priority.

There had been a lot of focus on tourism. The areas of interest were the ICT sector, commercial agriculture, commercial agriculture, fisheries and forests, education, tourism and many more. It was also the belief of the Coalition Government, Honourable Speaker, that if we capitalised on Fiji's hub status in the Pacific, made trade and investment easier, worked with the private sector and kept harnessing the MSME and cooperatives, we would be able to unlock Fiji's potential.

In March 2023, Honourable Speaker, I received a call from the Trade Commissioner of the US, Mr Alika Cooper, that Google wanted to engage with Fiji on a possible series of connections from the US, South America, Australia and Southeast Asia to Fiji. Within seven months after meeting the Honourable Prime Minister, Google announced their entry to Fiji. The potential impact to the economy, Honourable Speaker, is significant.

Our ability to establish Fiji as a genuine ICT hub is now cemented. We anticipate the ICT sector, Honourable Speaker, will rise to about 10 to 15 percent of GDP within the next 10 years and generate well over 20,000 jobs in this time frame. This will mean more opportunities for our young men and women in the years to come.

Honourable Speaker, in the BPO sector alone, we have onboarded five companies from 2023, creating 300 new jobs. Five other BPO opportunities are being pursued. Recent Reserve Bank reports reveal that the foreign exchange earnings have reached 300 million.

We envisage 500 million, Honourable Speaker, within a 10-year time frame. We have enquiries from cybersecurity entities wanting to set up hubs in Fiji. A starting salary of a cybersecurity analyst, Honourable Speaker, is between 40,000 to 50,000 US or 30,000 to 40,000 pounds.

I am not suggesting that we pay that salary in Fiji, but the fact of the matter is that the salaries of our young men and women will rise. The shortage of cybersecurity analysts globally is around 4.1 million people, Honourable Speaker. So, Fiji will be well-positioned to capture this opportunity.

The other positive developments, Honourable Speaker, have been the groundbreaking of the Lindhurst Business Park or Pacific Coral, which means that there will be available infrastructure to facilitate the growth in this sector, plus the development of academies, potentially through Google and a few other potential investors. Possible collaboration with one of our universities is also being planned. Honourable Speaker, finally, KPMG, which used to be just a chartered accounting firm, is now a fully-fledged BPO centre supporting part of their business in Australia.

It now has 250 staff and growing to 300 very soon. It also houses an artificial intelligence centre, which is delivering services to Australia. Honourable Speaker, the potential is huge.

The other ICT initiative, which we were able to launch, was the licencing of Starlink, Honourable Speaker. It has improved remote connectivity significantly, and as a result, not only government services will be improved, but small business opportunities to all isolated parts of Fiji. This will greatly assist the rural economy.

Let me move to commercial agriculture, Honourable Speaker. The outlook for commercial agriculture is positive. We most likely will be able to do genuine commercial agriculture at scale.

Imagine a Fiji, Honourable Speaker, where we can grow our own vegetables, drink our own juices, and replace imports. Fiji water has begun in Vanuatu, focussing on citrus, mango, pawpaw, and hopefully watermelons, with a view to produce and then value add. Aitken Spence intends to begin a model farm in western Viti Levu very soon, with focus on pineapple, strawberries, cocoa, bananas, and possibly palm oil in the long term.

To demonstrate, Honourable Speaker, what the private sector can do, Aitken Spence, upon hearing about the Nadarivatu strawberry farmers, hired a vehicle immediately to visit them just a few weeks ago. They believe they can assist these farmers and are asking to lease 10 acres up in Nadarivatu. Honourable Speaker, Aitken Spence is a major producer of strawberries in Sri Lanka.

There is an Israeli company as well being looked at, and they are intending to at least start with vegetables and vanilla commodities in Fiji. We have Ona Coffee and Bula Coffee, who are building local coffee producer networks in Bua, in Ra, in Taveuni, and also in Nadarivatu, Honourable Speaker. Goodman Fielder and Rooster Chicken are looking at producing feed locally, and this will translate into import replacements of about $18 million, which will likely reduce the cost of poultry and also translate into cheaper prices of chicken.

Honourable Speaker, you have a cocoa farm being developed in Dreketi, over 300 acres, by a Fiji, New Zealand diaspora. The Kava bill is imminent, Honourable Speaker. Medicinal cannabis is hoped to be tabled next year.

The Mahogany bill is coming to Parliament. This will correct a major injustice to the landowners of this country and hopefully allow Fiji to really reach its potential in terms of mahogany. And Honourable Speaker, the bamboo industry is looking very interesting.

These are just examples, Honourable Speaker, of commercial agriculture exploding around Fiji, which all go well for agriculture. On the local front, just recently a local commercial farmer sent six tonnes of pineapple to New Zealand. We found him on Facebook, and Investment Fiji facilitated the export opportunity.

Just imagine what will happen when this local farmer partners up with Aitken Spence. The other strength of these investors, Honourable Speaker, is that most of them ultimately look to value addition and cooperative smallholder models to drive localised production. This means income generation, market certainty for our farmers, and of course engagement with the landowners of this country.

These developments, together with investments in mechanisation by the Agricultural Ministry and Ministry for Commerce and Business Development, will generate greater productivity in terms of quantity and yield. Honourable Speaker, we are also looking at commercial aquaculture. We are also looking at tourism.

We now have genuine high-end tourism in this country, which means that tourism is being diversified. And I mentioned the Sofitel Watutale project and also the Kersner-Yasawa project. Honourable Speaker, we are also looking at opportunities with Film Fiji and also education tourism.

Honourable Speaker, in terms of trade facilitation, there is ongoing work with Pesa Plus, the economic partnership agreement with the UAE, and this is how we will diversify the economy of this country. And finally, Honourable Speaker, Sir, Fiji is at a pivotal point. An experienced chartered accountant told me he has never seen an investment pipeline so real and so genuine.

It now stands at six billion, Honourable Speaker. The work done in less than three years is not just a list of projects. It is the architectural design of the future we want for Fiji.

It is an economy which is resilient, diversified, competitive, export-driven, digital, business-friendly, and future-ready. We have not been painting walls, Honourable Speaker. We have been laying the foundations that future governments, regardless of political colour, can build on.

Honourable Speaker, ultimately, the ultimate test of any house or any economy is do the people feel safe to invest in it. And today, local and international investors are returning with confidence. Honourable Speaker, in closing, this government has not been patching a leaking roof.

We have been constructing a new economic home, one where opportunity reaches every province, every community, every home, and every ordinary Fijian. A home grounded in diversification. A home wired for modern digital systems.

A home with many rooms, tourism, agriculture, outsourcing, manufacturing, digital trade, and services. A home strong enough to face storms and open enough to welcome investors who want to come and grow Fiji. This is the Fiji we are building, Honourable Speaker.

This is the Fiji we believe in, and this is the Fiji that is rising. And may God bless us all.