Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka opened the National Economic Summit yesterday by saying fostering unity was just as important as mapping out a path to economic sustainability and managing Fiji’s ballooning debt.
“Reshaping our future means more than just promoting economic growth and development,” he said.
“A brighter future for our nation requires our communities to be united and move away from divisions. His plea to the people was — “Let us all come together and build a nation of enduring unity and prosperity”.
The PM said it was a well-known fact that Fiji faced many daunting challenges and the answer lay in collectively addressing them.
“We must address these challenges collectively through this summit, and craft solutions together as a nation.
“You are the leaders in your own fields, we come together as leaders of the nation.
“We need to strengthen our laws and institutions.
“We need to restore investor confidence and improve the business environment and at the same time, protect our natural resources.
“We need to rebuild our infrastructure which has been neglected, and most importantly look at ways to ease the burden of the high cost of living for our people. We need to strengthen the private sector which we so glibly call the “engine of growth”.
Mr Rabuka said apart from the “current unsustainable debt level”, Fiji must be mindful of the geopolitical and global economic environment.
“As a small, island developing state, we are very vulnerable to events that affect global economies, global events which are sadly beyond our control.”
