Commodore Josaia V.Bainimarama Prime Minister for Public Service, People's Charter for Change, Information, Provincial Development, Indegenous and Multi-Ethnic Afairs , & Acting Minister for Finance & National Planning

Opening Keynote Address at the Economic Summit

Your Excellencies;
Cabinet Ministers;
Distinguished Guests;
Participants;
Ladies & Gentlemen.

Ni sa bula vinaka, and a very good morning and warm welcome to you all.I thank you for your presence here today, for your willingness to join  the Interim Government in this Summit initiative, as part of our efforts to move Fiji forward.  I would like on behalf of the Government, to extend to you my heartfelt thanks for the time and effort you have made in being here to participate in this Economic Summit.

In January 2007, His Excellency the President following appointment of the Interim Government, announced and handed over an eleven point Mandate to move the country forward. The Mandate, inter-alia, included upholding the Constitution, ensuring good governance, accountability and transparency, restoration of parliamentary democracy, hastening economic recovery and lifting the welfare of the underprivileged and the disadvantaged groups in our society.
Based on this Mandate, the Interim Government initiated a major national undertaking to establish a National Council for Building a Better Fiji (NCBBF) and, through this, to outreach the people of Fiji, to formulate Peoples Charter for Change, Peace and Progress, with a unifying vision to build a better Fiji for all of our people. As leader of the Interim Government, I am fully and deeply committed to ensuring durable stability in our nation and also for every citizen, regardless of ethnicity, or station in life, to enjoy equal rights, and merit-based equality of opportunity, to progress and to uplift their living conditions.  
 
We need to restore investor and business confidence. I fully recognise that a return to parliamentary democracy is one of the essential pre-requisites for restoration of investor confidence in our country.  You will, however, also appreciate that the holding of elections for the mere sake of returning the country to parliamentary democracy has been counter-productive in the previous instances in the wake of the coups.  In that, Fiji was pressured by the international community, as it continues to be now. We cannot, and must not, bend to such pressures, merely to satisfy the purposes of convenience of others. Our national self-worth and sovereignty, and our collective national interest, are of paramount importance. We must address our fundamental, deep-rooted problems. We can ill afford to repeat the mistakes of the past; we must break the cycle of coups; and in restoring parliamentary democracy, we must also ensure that it will be durable going forward.

There are a number of things we can and must do in the meantime to restore investor confidence, particularly for our investors, local and foreign, who have already invested here.
 
In this context, I wish to re-iterate and affirm that it is the private sector that must lead the way for us to achieve high rates of sustainable growth through increased productive investments. In rebuilding confidence, besides the Government, the media too has a crucial role to play, at least in the perceptions that it creates. I am not saying that the media needs to be pro-government; but it must be pro-Fiji. In its reportings, the media needs to be more balanced than it is currently. The political leanings of the media, whatever that may be, must not cloud its analysis and its reports.

In this regard, I believe that more needs to be done to promote, support and facilitate private sector- led growth; and I wish to assure you that I am committed to doing this. 
I am determined to ensure this happens, and that inconsistent policy decision-making becomes a thing of the past in real time, to be replaced by certainty and predictability in Government’s major policy announcements. This, I believe, will bolster investor confidence in our country.

Let me also add that the draft People’s Charter is well suited for all this purpose. The preparation of the Charter has presented an opportunity to the people of Fiji to embark on an exhaustive examination of our political, economic, social and cultural structures, and to identify the shortcomings that contributed to the abysmal record of successive governments since May 1987. The focus of the Peoples Charter preparation process has been on identifying root causes of our problems and to find lasting solutions. 

The preparation of the draft Peoples Charter has been a culmination of a seven-months long hard work by the 45-member team of the NCBBF, grouped into three National Task Teams on Good Governance, Growing the Economy, and Social, Cultural & National Identity.

The draft People’s Charter is now available to the public and I urge you all to read it, make constructive comments and propose further changes through the consultation process which is currently underway nation-wide. The Peoples Charter process  is through which we have sought to ensure broadest possible national level participation and inclusivity, to Build a Better Fiji for ALL. It sets the framework for the overall governance structure and the set of commitments that will guide Fiji’s socio-economic development in the years to come.

The recommendations and findings from both the nation-wide consultations and the series of meetings conducted by the three National Task Teams and the nine Working Groups are documented in the 385-page State of the Nation & Economy (SNE) Report which will be presented to you this morning by the Head of the NCBBF Secretariat, Mr John Samy, to the Summit.

There is no doubt that in a multi-ethnic society like ours, there are strong feelings about race which is often reflected in what people say. The Interim Government has a special responsibility to build a stable and harmonious society for lasting peace and harmony through removing our race-based electoral system and reforming relevant policies and institutional structures. We have pledged to remove barriers that separate our communities and to replace race-based animosity and prejudices with trust and co-operation through the proposed People’s Charter initiative.  This can only be achieved if we, as citizens, put aside our differences and honour one another with mutual courtesy, respect, tolerance and goodwill.

The Interim Government is committed to building and developing Fiji into a country that is peaceful and united, where individual citizens are guaranteed their fundamental rights and freedoms and enjoy equal protection under the law. We must have good and just governance for which we need to have strong democratic and accountable institutions.

Governments cannot govern alone. They need ideas and support from the people. In a time of digital revolution, globalisation, and isolation from the global marketplace, it is imperative that as a small island, exposed and vulnerable, developing economy, we make the necessary adjustment to integrate ourselves fully into the global trading regime. In this environment, we must recognise the fact that the private sector is the engine of growth for our economy.

I take this opportunity to thank the private sector’s support and for your continued faith and resilience in working in partnership with Government to achieve greater prosperity for our people. Your participation in this two-day  Economic Summit is critical. I ask you to make good use of this opportunity for proactive interaction with a view to increasing investment, ensuring greater growth, and prosperity for our people.

The theme for this Summit is “Rebuilding Confidence & Growing the Economy". It is in my view, very timely and relevant, particularly in light of our current social, economic and political challenges. The economy has stabilised, and is now showing promising signs of recovery. It is time to build upon this from here, to take our economy to a fuller recovery and to the growth we require to ensure real and sustainable improvements in the lives of our people.

This Economic Summit is intended to facilitate the exchange of frank, constructive and practical views and dialogue that will enable us to put in place policies to enhance business, commercial and investment opportunities. I urge you to be vigilant in ensuring that the propositions put forward in the next two days are far-reaching, practicable and implementable in the immediate and short term. We must all share a sense of urgency in this regard in going forward.

We are meeting against the backdrop of a contracted economy last year and a moderate growth of 1.7% estimated for this year.  The forecast growth rate for next year and that of 2010 – whilst positive at 1.9% and 1.4% respectively, is nowhere near the level of growth we require or for that matter matches the full potential of a culturally, environmentally and resource rich country as ours.  We need much higher rates of growth to be able to absorb thousands of school leavers and graduates who enter the job market each year and the resources we need to provide the quality and magnitude of services and amenities to improve the lifestyle and standard of living for ordinary members of the public.

We must increase the current economic growth from less than 2% to between at least 5 to 8% per annum on a sustained basis. We know that over a third of our population live below the poverty line. It is our obligation to improve the living standards particularly of these under-privileged group of our people. We can only attain this through much improved economic growth. Other countries in similar situation to ours have achieved targets even higher than this. There is no reason why, with determination and the necessary support of the Government, and results-oriented actions on your part, that this cannot be achieved. This is what we must aim for. We owe it to our people to do this so, therefore, let us work together to make this happen.

The purpose of this Economic Summit, is therefore, to deliberate upon policies, strategies and actions and for Government, private sector and civil society to work in partnership and cooperation to implement all of this for the higher levels of economic growth and sustainable development we need, to build a better Fiji.

We are now working on the 2009 Budget.  In this Budget, one thing I must avoid is putting out a plethora of promises.  I would like this Budget to boost confidence, particularly of the private sector, for it to invest more, to grow the economy and to generate the jobs that we need.  Also, I want this Budget to be pro-poor, to improve the basic living conditions of our people.  Moreover, through this Budget, I want the public sector to demonstrate its own commitment to change: by doing more with less; by raising its productivity and service delivery; and by ensuring its own right-sizing through the much needed and long overdue reform and restructuring.

I would particularly welcome your constructive, forward-looking suggestions and recommendations, to partner with the Government, to take our country forward.The Interim Government has pledged its commitment from the outset to resolving the root causes of our problems and to working on a harmonious national platform to address these in order to build lasting prosperity, peace and stability in our Nation.

The challenge is far greater than it seems. It requires boldness, ironing out differences and coming out with an open heart and mind to move our country forward. The task is certainly a daunting one. However, it is achievable but it requires commitment, perseverance and placing our national interest to the forefront with a genuine desire to Building a Better Fiji for All.

We have a full agenda over the next two days. I hope our deliberations in these two days, through genuine dialogue and mutual understanding and active listening will help map the way forward in achieving our goal of finding solutions to Rebuilding Confidence and Growing the Economy.

Once again, I sincerely thank you all.

Vinaka vakalevu.Friday,

5th September 2008 Friday,