[Photo: FILE]

Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Tourism Viliame Gavoka says Fiji’s growing relationship with Israel presents opportunities to address long-standing challenges in agriculture, water security, and renewable energy.

Speaking at the launch of the Fiji parliamentary caucus aligned with Israel, Gavoka says Israel’s expertise in agricultural technology, desalination, and solar energy could help unlock Fiji’s economic potential.

The DPM says serious innovation is needed in the agricultural and tourism sectors, where Israel can assist Fiji.

“Our agriculture is still below 10 per cent of GDP. We always lament the fact that there’s so much land. What are we doing about our land? That will be immediate, the linkages, to see what we can do about our natural resources.”

He says Fiji could benefit from Israel’s experience in maximizing limited natural resources, particularly in water management.

He says that water is an issue here in Fiji and Israel desalinates water on an industrial scale.

As the Minister for Tourism, he says that much of the development he wants to see in terms of hotels would be limited by water and energy, which can be addressed through collaboration with Israel, which can help grow our economy here.

Israel Allies Foundation President Josh Reinstein says they look forward to working closely with Fiji across various sectors.

“I think that already Fiji is being looked at as a leading nation, not a  following nation, a nation of courage, a nation of moral clarity, as I mentioned, and so we’re seeing this process happen, and it’s really not just a political success or a great thing that will help both Israel and Fiji’s economy.”

The Deputy Prime Minister says cooperation between the two countries will extend beyond diplomacy, focusing on practical initiatives that could improve how Fiji uses its natural resources.