The Fiji Revenue and Customs Service is actively formulating initiatives and seeking funding from key stakeholders to bolster their efforts in enhancing detection capabilities and ensuring thorough surveillance of potential threats at Fiji’s ports of entry.

This was highlighted by FRCS Acting Chief Executive Officer Malakai Naiyaga during the commemoration of the world customs day.

Naiyaga says resource allocation has always been a challenge for the FRCS, and it is an aspect that invariably requires attention.

“Resourcing is always an issue, resourcing is definitely always an issue which we have to put forward for funding requests on what initiatives that we’d like to come up with.”

Australian Border Force Superintendent Uriah Turner points out that resource funding remains a challenge for countries in the Pacific, including Fiji.

“I think at this stage it’s not something that we have additional resourcing of funding to be able to do, for us it’s a significant step up in our overseas footprint, we’re sort of going no officers in the Pacific to 10 at a time but we do we have two here in Fiji and so we are very much guided by working to Fiji to support their priorities and working with not just customs but also immigration.”

Turner says that Australia remains dedicated to supporting Fiji by actively contributing to its border protection initiatives.