NEW Zealand businesses committed to an investment pipeline of about $20million in Fiji last year, according to Investment Fiji. Investment Fiji chief executive officer (CEO) Kamal Chetty confirmed this in an interview with this newspaper, saying the investment commitment they registered was from 16 New Zealand companies.
“New Zealand is important market for us, both for trade and investment,” Mr Chetty said.
“Last year, we had about 16 businesses registered in Fiji in different sectors from New Zealand, costing about $20 million.
“So that’s initial interest from them and obviously, as they develop, then we’ll get more details of what they would invest in.”
On investment confidence between Fiji and New Zealand, Mr Chetty said there are now a total of 40 potential investment leads from New Zealand interested expanding and investing into the Fijian market.
“So currently we’re working on around 40 investment leads from New Zealand.
“And we will continue to build on those leads and get them started in Fiji.”
He said the potential leads comprised businesses from sectors like services, manufacturing, real estate, Business Process Outsourcing, Information Technology and tourism.
“These businesses are family businesses, individual businesses, Fiji-owned businesses … there’s a variety of companies included,” he said.
In its mission to secure trade and investment for Fiji, Investment Fiji was also part of this year’s New Zealand-Fiji Business Council business mission to Fiji, currently in the country until Friday.
“Our target cannot be achieved just like that; we need to connect the two businesses for both countries. So, this event is one of that connecting the businesses together.
“Our expectation is — connect Fijian businesses with these businesses. The joint conference between New Zealand Fiji Business Council and Fiji New Zealand Business Council.
“We are now looking at taking a delegation from here in order to continue to stimulate investment and trade between the two countries,” Mr Chetty said.
Note: This article was first published on the print version of the Fiji Times dated July 17, 2025
