New Zealand Prime Minister Christopher Luxon says his government will continue to look at areas of investment in Fiji where it sees the opportunity.
Last week, Mr Luxon announced major project commitments for Fiji to the tune of close to NZ$27million (approx. FJ$37m).
- Investment commitment includes:n $3.6m to Fiji’s Climate Relocation of Communities Trust Fund
- $572,000 upgrade to the High Temperature Forced Air (HTFA) facility at Nadi International Airport
- $15.3m for a New Zealand Plant and Food Research-led program to support farmers in Fiji and four other Pacific countries, and
- $7.5m to help with its economic strategy.
Asked whether NZ will incentivise those investments, PM Luxon said “… for us, it’s just again working through very purposefully, what are the blockages that are stopping the growth from happening”.
“The investments we’ve made, $7.5m we’ve announced this (last) week around making sure we can build out the economic strategy that Fiji is wanting to pursue. That’s important,” Mr Luxon told this newspaper.
“Secondly, we’ve had a $15m investment in plant research, which is important because that’s a way in which Fiji can lift up its own horticultural sectors.
“Those are all practical things. We’ll continue to look at those things where we see opportunities to do so, as well as obviously supporting in the climate space.
“But I think the opportunity for New Zealand and the pathway for Fiji is to actually build a bigger economic engine.”
He said getting the economics right meant government can afford better health and education systems, and stronger law and order systems that actually protect people from being victims of crime.
“The bigger our economy, the better the public services we can offer our people.”
