FIJI showcased its National Digital Strategy in a presentation during one of the lectures at the ”Digital Culture Construction for Belt and Road Countries” seminar held in China this week.
The seminar was organised by the Chinese Government and brought together representatives from 35 developing countries to collaborate and integrate certain knowledge required in the digital development of their various countries.
Suva City Council’s Information Technology (IT) specialist Albert Wong, who was selected to represent Fiji and Oceania at the seminar, presented on Fiji’s digital strategy, of which Phase One has just been launched.
“One of the issues that we face is our digital divide, especially within our rural and urban areas and this has been a real challenge for us,” Mr Wong said.
“Another challenge was broadband connectivity, which has its fair share of issues.”
Mr Wong said Fiji was expected to benefit from the introduction of Google into the country.
“Google had just been introduced into the Fiji market where they will be setting up a data center in Fiji, so that will open up a lot of interventions for us in the Pacific.
“Fiji is the hub of the Pacific.
“If you go to the Pacific, I think Fiji is one of the most developed out of all and so coming to this seminar was an eye-opener, to see where the standards of development is at because back home, I don’t think we view culture as an e-commerce.
“For us, it’s always been something that was held sacred,” he said.
“We have a lot of digital materials and exposure but we haven’t reached the virtual reality frame at the moment.
“I believe that this is the direction that our Government is taking.”
The two-week program included experts from the IT and cultural spaces engaged in an educational experience where delegates and representatives were toured across technology-based cities in China, visiting technological and cultural sites where artificial intelligence has become part of their modernisation.
Note: This article was first published on the print version of the Fiji Times dated June 20, 2025
