Praneeta Prakash 
Trade Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Manoa Kamikamica
Fiji is working to protect its trade interests and grow new markets as global rules shift.
Trade Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Manoa Kamikamica states the country must diversify trade and the economy to stay strong.
He points out that they are focusing on sectors like mahogany, kava, aquaculture and commercial farming.
“We have been taking steps there to refine the Kava policy through the Ministry of Agriculture and hopefully before the end of the year reintroduce the bill that was never passed in this House, the Kava Bill. And that again will continue the opportunities that we have not unlocked in Kava . On top of that, Honorable Speaker, we are interacting actively with the EU, the Government of Australia and also the United Kingdom to see whether we can allow the commercial export of Kava particularly into the EU and the UK.”
Kamikamica said Fiji was also talking with the EU, UK and Australia to allow commercial kava exports, especially to Europe.
“Southeast Asia is a major area of interest for Fiji. The Honorable Prime Minister has tasked me to explore looking at APEC membership, because we get access to a 750 million market. But again, for Fiji to seriously play in that market, we need to develop a genuine commercial agricultural product, and that’s what we’ve been trying to do so that when we are well positioned.”
But for Fiji to compete, Kamikamica states it needs to develop real commercial products.
He added that companies like Fiji Water are now investing in local citrus farms to cut imports and boost local jobs.
Stream the best of Fiji on VITI+. Anytime. Anywhere.
