Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka will meet with Australian experts this weekend to discuss ways of reviving the dying ship building industry.
This meeting follows concerns raised by the Institute of Maritime Officers Guild (Fiji) that knowledge and skills of shipbuilding remained with very few, most are senior citizens.
The institute’s general secretary Lopeti Radravu said data collected so far by the organization showed that only 10 percent or less of Fiji’s population had the knowledge and skills of ship building.
“We are all retired workers who still know the knowledge and skills so we met with Mr Rabuka and asked him to help us revive this industry,” he said.
“We are very happy that he agreed to do this and we need to do this before all skills and knowledge disappears.”
Mr Rabuka, in his response said Government was serious about reviving the ship building industry.
“We are serious about the plans for reviving ship building and ship repair capabilities in Fiji and there is an Australian authority here looking at possible sites for these things so we meeting in Lautoka and looking at facilities there,” he said.
“With this issue, I will also talk to Minister for Education to see ways of reviving this as an apprenticeship program so that we will maintain the knowledge and skills of shipbuilding.
“The Australian authority is here for concept purpose but the actual workforce in reviving this will be done by our remaining experience people.”
