The Fijian labour market demands the availability of skilled professionals, says Minister for Commerce, Trade, Tourism and Transport Faiyaz Koya.
He told parliament that the Skilled Professionals Evaluation Committee (SPEC) – formed by the Registration of Skilled Professionals Act 2016 to support Fiji’s economic growth – had conducted a skill gap analysis to gather the needs across all the sectors.
“The consultations with the public and private sector entities reveal that Fiji’s skilled gap is a repercussion of a persistent mismatch between demand and supply in the Fijian labour market and the years of the mass brain drained the causes of which are very well-known,” MR Koya said.
“So, in the wake of the pandemic, SPEC’s function has become more critical than ever before and skills are needed in furthering Fijians to a modern skilled based economy to build the nation back stronger.”
Mr Koya said as the economy grew, especially in new and emerging sectors, in order to ensure they were able to capitalise opportunities, would need those of appropriate skills.
He said in that regard, it was critical in this industry to be able to access those skills in a timely manner.
“SPEC will actually play an important role in making the transition to a new and modernise economy and continues to do so, we will be enhancing this particular platform for specialised skills to enter Fiji for a short period of time and with the skills gap analysis, our work will be targeted and focus on ensuring that the critical sectors have the required skills.
“We will continue to work closely also with the education sector to introduce new curriculum where possible to build capacity within.”
Mr Koya made the comments in parliament in response to a question posed to him on how the SPEC could assist in addressing skills shortage as Fiji moved towards new and emerging industries.
