Research needs to be conducted on priority export markets and crop demands, says Fiji Revenue and Customs Services (FRCS) CEO Udit Singh.
Speaking at the Fiji Institute of Chartered Accountants (FICA) annual congress – 2024 on Saturday, he said there was so much left to be done when it came to finding boosting alternatives for tourism and Fiji would also need to be marketable.
“We need to be marketable. We need to find out what our markets are looking for. We’re looking at markets overseas in New Zealand, in Australia, in the agricultural sector and we need to see what we can provide in terms of premium vegetables and that type of activity,” Mr Singh said.
“We provide large tracts of land, we’ve got a great climate that we can produce all year round and we can shift our agricultural produce to different markets and obtain a premium. It’s important to note that in terms of influencing our balance of payments, two ways to do that.
“One is to increase our exports and another one is to reduce our reliance on imports. We import about $600 million of fuel. Now, renewable energy is something that we need to look at. Wind, power, solar, and we need to look at economic transformations around the world.”
He said countries such as Germany, Denmark, Australia were a few that Fiji could look to, for example, for renewable energy.
He said for agriculture, Thailand would be a good subject for research.
“In terms of agriculture, you can look at Thailand. Agro processing; they submit vegetables and fruit and they export them. We have the tyranny of logistics, we have 300 plus islands and we talked about the Oneata lobster that Honourable Seruiratu spoke about, and so how can we get the Oneata lobster into Japan, or New Zealand or Australia?
“I think another very important aspect that we can develop into, or segment that we can develop into is the education and skill development area. This is a $14bn market, this is international students. Countries like the US, UK, Canada and Australia basically exploited this market to their advantage.
“This segment is forecasted to be a $100bn in the next few years and we have a very good tertiary segment and this is something that we need to be looking into as well.”
Mr Singh said having the best strategy would not play to our advantage unless it was accompanied by in-depth researching.
“It’s about getting into the market and getting some support so that we can actually create those networks, and in the market.
“Industries need to innovate and diversify, development partners need to fund and provide expertise, and central government plays a key role in policy support, providing infrastructure, development and trading conducive business environment.”
Mr Singh acknowledged the collaborative work among agencies which he had witnessed during the short time he’s been here.
