FIJI-USA Business Council president Constantine Panayiotou said he was pleased with the turnout at the first networking session between the Nadi Chamber of Commerce and Industry (NCCI) and Fiji-USA Business Council.
He said the chamber serves as the collective voice for the business community, not only the Fijian Government but the overseas market as well.
“The enthusiasm and the motivation we see from members of the Nadi Chamber really encourages us as leaders of the chambers that we are going to have a strong base of support as we go forward,” Mr Panayiotou said in an interview with this newspaper.
“The most important thing about chambers is that we are a collective voice for the business community.
“And that takes participation, and now that we have seen the enthusiasm of the Nadi Chamber members to participate in this, that lets us know that they want to be involved.
“And that will deliver a message to the leadership of the chambers and then we can present, because the cause of chambers is that we provide a collective voice for the business community to not only the Fijian Government but to the overseas market as well.
“With relationships between business and government, businesses sometimes do not want to deliver a negative message for instance.
“They want it to be delivered collectively from the chambers.
“If we need to negotiate with the Government, we can be the face for all businesses but there are also the positive sides of that too.
“So, we can show collectively what the community is doing, how many jobs we can create and what we can bring in terms of economic growth, how we can contribute to GDP and then we have that collective voice that gives us the negotiating power to build a favourable business environment.”
Note: This article was first published on the print version of the Fiji Times dated July 19, 2025
