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HIS EXCELLENCY THE PRESIDENT Opening Address at the First Meeting of the National Council for Building a Better Fiji for All Co-Chairman, Your Grace, Archbishop Petero Mataca
Your Excellencies, I am pleased and honoured to be here today, to welcome you all, and to officially open the first meeting of the National Council for Building a Better Fiji. But first, I wish you all, including members of your families, belated greetings for a happier and a more prosperous New Year. It is normal that at the beginning of a New Year, we make resolutions: always for a better future, not only for ourselves as individuals, but also for our families, our friends, and our communities. As we move into 2008, we look forward, with hope, to the future of our beloved Fiji, and for all its people. Today, in particular, is a very special day, because we are commencing a new journey for our Nation. A journey in which we seek to chart out a course for peace, political stability, good governance, harmonious co-existence, and prosperity, for all the people of Fiji. I thank each one of you for responding positively to my call to serve as a member of this National Council. Your presence here today signifies your commitment, and the vision that you share, to help build a better Fiji for all. During the launch of the Peoples Charter initiative on our Independence Day last October, I had expressed my genuine trust and hope, that through this approach to the way forward for Fiji, we would be able to secure lasting peace, political stability including good governance, prosperity, and progress. The challenges, and the onus, are now upon us all, to help achieve this vision. As Fiji people,we share a common identity. We have much more in common, as Fiji people, than we may realise. We can deal with, and address, all of the problems and challenges which we, as communities and as a nation, face today, if only we are prepared to work together, through a process of constructive engagement and trust-based dialogue. Through such a process, you as members of this National Council will need to achieve broad-based consensus, on the way forward for Fiji, for Building a Better Fiji for All. As leaders of your profession and community, you will need to exercise sound judgement, and actively contribute, as necessary and appropriate, to map out the way forward for Fiji’s future, by formulating the draft Peoples Charter for Change and Progress. I am aware that some sections of the community still have reservations about the Peoples Charter proposal. I must reiterate that this is a very major and important national initiative. Overall success will only be achieved through genuine dialogue and effective participation of all stakeholders. Therefore, I urge and plead with those members of our community who have reservations, to come forward in the spirit of mutual cooperation and dialogue, so that we can all work together, to shape the destiny of our beloved country. Some commentaries have been made that a draft Peoples Charter already exists. This is far from the truth. A draft of the Peoples Charter for Change and Progress is to be prepared by this 45–member National Council. Through the deliberations of this Council, including the work to be accomplished by the various National Task Teams and Working Groups, only then will a draft Peoples Charter be ready. The National Council will be supported in its work by a Technical Secretariat. This Secretariat will operate independent of the Interim Government, reporting, through the two Co-Chairs, to the National Council. Since mid-May last year, Fiji has been consistent and concerted in its efforts, to outreach the international community, and in particular our development partners, seeking a better understanding of Fiji’s particular situation. We also invited them to extend financial and technical assistance for the Peoples Charter effort. It was also proposed that a three-member International Advisory Group, be appointed to independently oversight the Peoples Charter process. In this context, I am extremely disappointed that as of to-date, none of Fiji’s traditional development partners, have come forward to extend any financial or technical support, for the Peoples Charter work. As we embark on this journey, at least for now, we are on our own. As members of the National Council for Building a Better Fiji, I bestow upon you my trust and confidence, for this mammoth and very important national task. I sincerely believe and trust, that, at the end of this undertaking, we will be enriched, rewarded, satisfied, and also proud, that through our collective effort, we will have contributed effectively in helping shape Fiji’s future: for a progressive multiracial society, one in which we all can live in peace, political stability, and harmony. I wish you well in your deliberations. May God Bless Fiji; and May God Bless Each and Everyone of You. Vinaka Vaka Levu, Dhanyabad; Thank You. Wednesday 16th January, 2008
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