[Source: Ministry of Trade, Co-operatives, SMEs and Communications/Facebook]

Minister for Trade, Co-operatives, Small and Medium Enterprises and Communications, Manoa Kamikamica visited the Singapore office of Google while attending the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework Inaugural Investor Forum earlier this week.

Kamikamica states this visit resulted in productive discussions on the budding collaboration between Fiji Government and Google.

The minister met with Shirshendu Bhattacharya, Google’s Submarine Innovation Lead and Lead for Google’s Pacific Project.

Bhattacharya took the Fijian delegation for a tour of the Google Singapore Premises and briefed the delegation on the progress of the Google project in Fiji and the Pacific.

The discussions centred around Fiji’s role as the regional hub for Google’s ” Pacific Connect” submarine cable network initiative, connecting the Region to the United States and Australia a resilient link between Fiji, Guam and French Polynesia.

[Source: Ministry of Trade, Co-operatives, SMEs and Communications/Facebook]

Kamikamica stated that the presence of Google in Fiji is a major boost and this will position Fiji to become a well-connected and digitally advanced nation in the region.

The Ministry of Trade, Cooperatives, SMEs and Communications will establish a task force to explore further initiatives, including collaboration with the Ministry of Education to integrate technology education into the curriculum at primary, secondary and tertiary levels.

The minister says that this visit highlights the Fijian government’s commitment to leveraging technology for national development and creating a skilled workforce prepared for the digital age.