Indonesia, as the development partner of Fiji, with its ideal innovation and technological capabilities, can immensely add value to the processing abilities of local micro, small, and medium enterprises.

This has been highlighted by University of Fiji Associate Professor in Economics Dr Murage Ranasinghe during a talanoa session on potentials for enhanced Fiji-Indonesia Economic Cooperation.

Dr Ranasinghe says a few projects related to MSMEs have been initiated.

He adds that Indonesia can assist in the value-adding process through the MSME’s

”There is a couple of research about the current state of the Micro Small and Medium Enterprises in Fiji. They have identified some of the key components.”

Indonesian Ambassador to Fiji, Dupito Simamora, says Indonesia is committed to continuing to strengthen and deepen its robust bilateral relations with Fiji.

He adds that they are willing to bring in experts from Indonesia to provide training to Fijians in arious fields, including fisheries, agriculture, climate change, women’s empowerment, law enforcement, disaster management, and forestry.

During the talanoa session, key areas of possible cooperation between Fiji and Indonesia were discussed, which included the tourism industry, people-to-people contacts, sharing of experiences, and technical training in human resource development.