The new Recognized Seasonal Employees scheme will focus on recruiting Fijians from the rural areas.

The permanent secretary for Labour, Taito Waqa says the government wants to raise levels of employment amongst rural dwellers.

“I think it’s very important to notice that this is a very important part of employment generation for our marginalized people rural area, and hopeful when they come back they can help elevate poverty, built a home, extend a home and start a business when they come back”.

Waqa adds the scheme will enable Fijians to explore the work environment in New Zealand.

“The whole mindset will change because it has been exposed to work environment overseas, the work environment will change and we train them, we’ll actually train them to be professional worker overseas and hopefully when they come back and other workers to go we will shift the mindset of work ethics around villagers”.

Officials from ministry and their New Zealand counterparts are discussing the finer details of the RSE in Suva today.

The pilot project which will initially recruit 30 Fijians to work in New Zealand will begin in February.

An agreement for the scheme will be signed tomorrow.