Q1. After difficult
times, the Fijian economy was isolated from
major markets. Fiji is now quite confident
to accomplish 4.4% economic growth this year
and expects 5.7% for 2003. What have been
the most significant efforts of this Ministry
in the last two years to set an attractive
business environment?
A1. Getting investor confidence back that
was shattered by the event of May 2000 was
the duty of my Ministry being the one closely
involved with investment, business development
and commerce. We had to take a lead role moving
around, talking with local businesses and
with the overseas companies, established here
in Fiji. We did extensive tours of the islands
meeting with business people, civic leaders,
farmers and ordinary people to hear their
views. We also did a ' road show' in Australia
and called in on the businesses that had branches
here in Fiji to brief them on the current
situation in terms of law and order, the economy
and what the interim government was trying
to do. The interim Government was trying to
restore confidence, through the restoration
of law and order to stabilize the country
and to get the business moving again, in particular,
investments. We have also done a tour of Europe
in June 2002. We went to London, Hamburg,
Berlin and Paris, calling in on the multi-nationals
with operations in Fiji like BP Oil, Courts,
Cable & Wireless and various major hotel
chains, and holding seminars with potential
investors. We toured the West coast of the
US a few months later and only recently in
October 2002 we did another Investment promotion
tour of Australia. It is also our role, to
develop Business concepts. We have helped
other Ministries to put together strategies
for developing the resources that come under
their respective Ministries. For example in
Agriculture we assisted in putting together
marketing strategies for the root crops, and
in encouraging a lot more agro-processing.
We do export a lot of raw stuff mainly to
Australia, New Zealand and to the West Coast
of the US. We also believe that agro-processing
has a much wider market, and is not subject
to the rigorous guarantee standards imposed
on raw foods.
Development projects are concentrated mainly
in this main island of Viti Levu. My Ministry
is assisting Government to focus attention
on the development of Vanua Levu, making
better use of the resources which are in
abundance there. We consult regularly with
the business people and business organisation
as this is the Ministry that looks after
the private sector. This government believes
that for growth to happen, the private sector
must play the leading role. Government's
role is a facilitating one, putting together
the right environment for the business to
flourish and to expand.
Q2. Mahogany, Tuna, the Studio City project,
etc. Even though there is not the awareness,
there are more investment opportunities
than tourism or sugar in Fiji, right?
A2. Right! There are a lot more exciting
opportunities emerging. Traditionally, Sugar
and Tourism, Copra have been the mainstay
industries. There is also gold, fishing and
timber products. Since, 1988 garment industry
has flourished to be one of the top industries
in the Country. Recently, Fiji Water started
operation. This is no doubt the best success
story we have had over the years. It is marketed
mainly in the US and it has become the No.
2 premium mineral water consumed in the United
States. I believe that there are over 200
brands of mineral water on the shelves in
the US, and, out of which there are about
67 premium imported water. In the last four
years since its establishment Fiji Water has
a jumped to No. 2 place, second to Evian.
Evian off-course has been around for over
a 100 years. So this is a huge success story
and Fiji Water is going to become one of Fiji's
major export earners. There is a lot more
water sources from around the area where Fiji
Water is located and waiting for investors
interested in joint venture arrangement with
land owners. Looking at other resources we
offer tremendous opportunities, with Indigenous
timber. In fact, the early history of Fiji
white settlers evolved around Sandalwood.
25 years ago Pine forests were planted, and
the Fiji Pine Commission established. Pine
is being harvested and exported mainly in
the form of wood chips to Japan. But now,
the resource that is attracting more attention
is Mahogany. Fiji is believed to have the
biggest plantation of Mahogany in the world.
Brazil of course has the largest native Mahogany
forest. We are now putting in place plans
to harvest our Mahogany resource. This is
going to be one of the major industries in
Fiji. We are going to involve the Fijian landowners
whose land Government had leased for Mahogany
plantations. We will involve them from the
felling, the logging to the processing of
the timber. Government's policy is to have
as much value adding as possible done in Fiji.
We are hoping that by the middle of next year
we will be able to attract strategic, partners
to be engaged in the downstream processing,
and in the marketing of final products.
Q3. Fiji has to compete with a range of countries
in order to attract the necessary investments
to develop its economy. How would you qualify
Fiji's current investment climate comparing
to neighbouring countries?
A3. Fiji has certain advantages. The first
one being its location. It's central location
brings advantages in terms of shipping, and
air services. Fiji has the University of the
South Pacific, the Fiji School of Medicine,
which also trains medical students from other
island states, and the seat of the Forum Secretariat.
The infrastructure is better than in any other
country in the South Pacific giving Fiji another
advantage. The Southern Cross Cable going
through Fiji is a big advantage as it opens
up another major opportunity in the IT industry.
Fiji is English speaking and has a high literacy
rate and is quite advantaged in terms of the
time zone. Those are some of the advantages
arising out of its location and making Fiji
the HUB OF THE SOUTH PACIFIC. The government
has in place an array of incentives for businesses.
For exporters the expired Trade Free Zone
Scheme is being replaced by the Duty Suspension
Scheme. Fiji has relatively well educated
labour force. We have a cheaper labour force
compared to New Zealand and Australia. It
is only two and half hours flight to Auckland
and 3-4 hours to Australia, very short distance.
Indeed with good infrastructure, right incentives
and Trade Agreements Fiji hopes to get Australia
and New Zealand businesses relocated to Fiji.
As far as our Tourism Industry is concerned,
major new developments are happening everywhere.
There is certainly a surge in the number of
visitors coming to Fiji. Tourists are attracted
to Fiji because of its climate, its natural
beauty, and its people. Fiji has a parliamentary
democracy and a stable political economic
structure. Our law and order situation is
very stable.
Q4. Could you name some of the companies
that are taking advantage of these incentives?
A4. In manufacturing we have Nestle operating
here and is doing very well. Bumble Bee has
good partnership with our Fishing Company
- Emperor Mines has a proud 70 years association.
There are other multinationals in the financial
sector. The Commonwealth Bank of Australia
has its operation through the Colonial National
Bank, there is Westpac, there is ANZ, the
Bank of Baroda and the Pakistani Habib Bank.
In tourism we have some major developments,
starting next year. Novotel will be built
involving Accor in partnership with Air
Pacific and the Colonial Group. Also starting
up early next year is the Hilton at Denarau,
further expansion of Trend West, and the
Denarau Sheraton Villas. As we move south,
to a place called Momi Bay, and also starting
next year will be the Meridian Hotel. A
major new development is at Natadola, which
is regarded as the best beach in Fiji. The
government has already commenced its part
in providing the infrastructure like the
road, the water supply and the electricity
supply. Six Continents Hotel and Shangri
la are two of the early starters on this
beautiful site. Closer to Suva is the Taunovo
Bay development, involving Rosewood Hotel.
In the audio-visual industry the Paradise
Entertainment is taking advantage of recent
Government incentives as it starts to commence
the development of the studio city in Yaqara
in 2003. When it takes off it will become
the major development in this part of the
Pacific. All these are indication of investors'
confidence in this country, confidence in
the stability and management of the economy
and in the incentives provided by a business
friendly Government.
Q5. During the recent investment promotion
delegation in London, Cable & Wireless,
a shareholder with government in Fintel,
showed interests to expand investments in
Fiji. How would you qualify the potential
of Fiji to become the Telecommunication
hub of the South Pacific ?
A5. The Cable & Wireless aim includes
linking up all the countries in the Pacific
to Fiji. Fiji will therefore truly become
'the hub of the Pacific' with the advent of
the Southern Cross Cable prioritising a perfect
opportunity for the convergence of the IT
Industry. Cable & Wireless has been here
for a long time and we did talk to them while
we were in London and they did indicate to
us their plans to expand their presence here.
Q6. What kind of companies would you specially
invite to Fiji to take advantage of the
incentives in the telecommunications sector?
A6. This is one of areas we talked about
when we did our 'road shows' this year. We
wanted to get the companies interested in
setting up operations here and to take advantage
of the IT and Southern Cross Cable, starting
perhaps with the simplest one, the one that
employs a large number of people, the Call
Centres. The ANZ Bank has started a Call Centre
for the ANZ Banking operations for the Pacific
in Suva. We will then move into the more sophisticated
areas of the IT. |
Q7. You have
always showed interest in assisting exporters
in order to increase their presence in the
international markets. In the last two years,
what are the companies that are better representing
Fiji abroad?
A7. The garment industry has been one
of our success stories. The garment industry
started after 1987 when he had the first coup.
We had our back against the wall then. The
government of the day took up this idea to
set up the Trade Free Zones and Trade Free
Factories. Thee Garment industry took up the
incentives offered. They had grown from then
to be one of the major industries in Fiji.
It has however taken quite a hammering following
May 2000, and also, due to the change in the
agreement we have had with Australia. We are
looking now towards the United States. We
are trying to obtain similar concessions,
the US Government extends to African countries
and that is, duty free and quota free. This
of course will require intense lobbying efforts
and which we may not be able to afford. The
other Companies that are well represented
overseas are the Fiji Water and Fiji Sugar.
In terms of timber products Tropic Woods have
done a lot and has very important linkage
in Japan, where it exports woodchips. In the
Fishing Industry, the government owned fishing
company PAFCO which processes fish, works
hand in hand with Bumble Bee, the major outlet
in the United States. Because of that relationship
PAFCO has managed to grow its business. In
fact it was struggling a few years back but
since it began it's relationship with Bumble
Bee it is now showing tremendous growth.
Q8. Could you name some of the companies in
the timber and garment industries?
A8.As mentioned before Tropik Woods Limited
which processes the pine forest, is a subsidiary
of the Fiji Pine Commission and is located
in Lautoka. For indigenous timber we have
two operating on Vanua Levu, Fiji Forest Industries
(FFI) and also Valebasoga Tropic Boards. When
you talk about garment, United Apparel, Mark
One Apparel and Ghim Li Fashions are the most
prominent businesses in the country.
Q9. You were talking about Australia and the
recent investment promotion delegation there.
What were the results, any concrete investment
projects, any improvement in the relation
between the two countries?
A9. The relations with Australia after
May 2000 event have improved, there is no
doubt about that. The Australian government
and businesses have commended the Fiji government
for the efforts in stabilising the Country,
putting in place a democratically elected
Government, and for vastly improving the economy.
We had a quite a good meeting in Sydney attended
by over two hundred people, and we also had
meetings in Brisbane and in Melbourne. The
people who attended were; the ones representing
companies with operations in Fiji; potential
investors, those who wanted to relocate their
business to Fiji; and lastly those who had
products to sell. The few days we spend there
were greatly encouraging and greatly fruitful.
As with the other investment promotion tours,
the Fiji Trade and Investment Bureau has the
task of following up on matters being discussed.
Q10. In the last Pacific Area Standard
Congress in Nadi last June you talked about
the need for assistance from the developed
countries. Key institutions such as the
Asian Development Bank or the European Investment
Bank is keeping a track on Fiji. What is
exactly the kind of assistance that Fiji
has received in the last 2 years and what
does it need at the moment?
A10. In the first instance developing
countries either do not have standards or
are trying to establish standards in their
countries. Fiji is one of those countries
in the latter category. It will become a vital
component under WTO. So leave alone conformance
and harmonisation of world standards we need
the assistance of developed countries to first
develop our national standards. The assistance
that we always seek from the European Union
and other organisations is the financial assistance
to fund our capital projects. With the European
Union there are capital projects that we have
in place like bridge, roads etc., mostly to
do with infrastructure. There is also assistance
in terms of capacity building.
Q11. The European Union is one of your
main export partners but how is Fiji developing
its external trade with the Pacific region
and other Asian nations?
A11. We have now an agreement in place
for the islands in the Pacific in terms of
the PACER (Pacific Area Closer Economic Relations
) and the PICTA (Pacific Island Countries
Trade Agreement) which we have organise to
allow for free trade among overseas because
we have to stay in line with the W.T.O. guidelines.
We would like to build a strong market within
the Pacific region. When you take the Pacific
Islands in total the population comes to about
six million people, it is quite a big market
in itself. The Pacific Islands have our own
arrangements with the European Union. Fiji
has also adopted a "look North"
policy where it incorporates the countries
of the South East Asia together with Europe
and the North American markets.
Q12. The Fiji islands is part of the Commonwealth.
There is a Commonwealth Trade Congress next
March in New Delhi. According to the links
you have with other commonwealth countries
and also with India. What is the message you
would like to communicate during this congress
and what can Fiji Islands offer to Commonwealth
countries ?
A12. The message from Fiji is the same
as the other island countries in the Pacific
and most of the countries belonging to the
Commonwealth. We want to use the Commonwealth
as a group to assist us in terms of trade
relationship with the rest of the world. The
E.U. is another big group, the Asian countries
have their own group and Commonwealth should
be the group that can be effectively used
to lobby for the interests of its members.
We need to take advantage of our size. There
are a lot of things that worry the little
island countries and one of which is to do
with the environment, with the global warming.
There is a quite a fair number of island states
that are threatened by this and will be completely
submerged if the sea level continues to rise.
That is a real threat to us, and one we would
like the Commonwealth to take up on our behalf.
Again in terms of the environment there is
the threat of the nuclear waste being transported
across the Pacific. We are a maritime nation
and any damage that is done to our marine
life and resources is going to cause a lot
of damage to us, damage that will last a very
long time. We would like to get the message
across to the Commonwealth to please fight
for the protection of our environment. There
have been quite a number of nuclear testing
done around the Pacific and the Commonwealth
needs to take a firm stand on this on behalf
of its members. Capacity building is a very
important issue that we will need to address.
In 1987 and 2000, Fiji had been a 'naughty
boy' as far as the Commonwealth membership
is concerned. We strongly made the point that
we will sort out our own problems. We need
to understand the reasons for the coups in
1987 and 2000, but particularly the reasons
for the great support they generated when
they happened. We then need to address the
causes so that they do not happen ever again.
The real assistance we ask from the members
of the Commonwealth, is their understanding
of the problems we had and to bear with us
as we try to solve these problems. This is
to be preferred to Trade ban which only make
innocent people suffer and further aggravate
the problems. The fact is, we have done what
we said we were going to do and we are now
moving the country forward in an impressive
manner.
There are worse things happening in other
Commonwealth member countries than what has
happened in Fiji. It seems that double standard
is being applied. The Commonwealth needs to
have some consistency otherwise its credibility
becomes a major issue.
Q13. Mr. Vuetilovoni, you were in the
private sector, building one of the most
successful corporations of the South Pacific
during the 90's. What are the challenges
that brought you into politics and how do
you describe the 'new Fiji' you and the
other government leaders are building?
A13. I retired a year before the Coup
of May 2000, and I was actually enjoying it
when the Coup happened. I was then asked to
serve on the interim government by the Prime
Minister Laisenia Qarase. It was a big decision
to make but was made somewhat easier when
I learned about the Composition and the quality
of the team and its leadership.
The task became enjoyable because we knew
one another well and respected and helped
one another. There was nobody who was trying
to build his own little empire, we all shared
the same visions. We had started to put in
place policies and formulate strategies for
a peaceful and prosperous Fiji. The Interim
Government was coming to an end, and we needed
time to turn our vision into reality. We thought:
why don't we try and to go into this election
and therefore form our own party? We did,
and we won, so we now carry on as a team,
with the leadership that the Prime Minister
provides, to get this country moving forward.
The results are starting to come through.
For lasting peace and prosperity, we must
address the aspirations of the indigenous
Fijians. We must improve the standards of
education and health, and particularly, we
must help Fijians to make use of the vast
resources that they own. Agriculture, aqua-culture,
forestry, tourism etc. are areas needing clear
policy direction and assistance for Fijians.
I must stress the point here that although
this programme is for Fijians only and the
use of their resources, everybody wins in
the end. A side benefit of this programme
is the reduction in urban drift which is creating
a major social problem. To reduce and hopefully
reverse urban drift not only for Fijians but
for everyone, we must make life in the rural
areas very attractive by utilising the great
wealth that exists out there. To do that we
need the proper infrastructure, good roads,
good water supply, electricity supply communication,
telephone and health services. A lot of resources
are being channelled towards the development
in the rural areas in the last two budgets.
Rural dwellers are being encouraged to work
at the little things they are doing, creating
wealth for themselves and in the process for
the country. I use the phrase 'quality growth'
meaning that everybody is involved in some
sort of economic activities. Micro-finance
for example is a major programme that we have,
helping the housewives for example making
mats or weaving generally to sell, setting
up BBQ stalls doing things that they can earn
money from. In tourism there is the establishment
of eco-tourism to enable visitors to really
enjoy the scenery, the beauty of the place
and its people. We are therefore not concentrating
only on major projects like hotels or major
businesses but also on helping as many people
as possible do the little things that will
bring them income, providing assistance and
encouragement for micro-enterprises which
will grow to small businesses and then maybe
to macro enterprises.
Winne cannot be held responsible for
unedited transcription.
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V.I.P. INTERVIEWS
