Border reopening will bring re-employment

Listen to this article:

Movement at Sawani after the containment border was lifted and opened to public to travel. Picture: RAMA

The Fiji Commerce and Employers Federation support the Government’s approach with the lifting of the containment zone borders and reducing the curfew hours from 9pm to 4am which was announced last week.

According to the chief executive officer Kameli Batiweti many businesses would now be able to open for longer hours.

He said they would be able to travel to their different branches around Fiji at ease knowing that they don’t have to apply for a permit.

“It saves time for many businesses as well to now cover for the losses they have sustained in the past months by opening for longer hours and offering new strategies for sale,” he said.

“Our members are very eager to get to a point of normalcy in terms of business operations and sales as they have suffered tough times in the past few months causing many to temporarily close till restrictions start to ease.

“With the current situation of businesses reopening there will definitely be re-employment and we can expect people to start going back to work on normal hours.”

Mr Batiweti added that previously, some of their members were concerned as the curfew hours had caused them to close their businesses early resulting in sales being affected.

“However, we understand the importance of such strict restrictions at that time as Fiji was, and is still battling a beast that has not left our shores.

“We encourage all Fijians to continue following the COVID safe protocols to ensure that we fight this virus until we and our loved ones are completely safe.”

The federation has conducted a few information sessions with its members and various government ministries to keep them updated and informed of the new regulations, COVID-19 safe protocols and policies according to the CEO, which were introduced to ensure businesses followed COVID safe protocols.

“Different partners of FCEF have offered financial assistance to MSMEs in a form of a grant during the second wave such as Business Link Pacific (BLP).

“BLP have provided MSMEs in Fiji with the adaptation grant to assist businesses to stay afloat and generate innovative ways of running their business,” he said.

Mr Batiweti also said they supported the vaccination campaign and encouraged everyone to get vaccinated to reach the goal of 80 per cent of the population being vaccinated.

“This approach will mean that eventually, our international borders would reopen, and we know what the benefits will be for Fiji’s economy.

“In saying that, we are suggesting that everyone should continue to be vigilant and practice a lot of caution with the lifting of sanctions at 80 per cent because, whilst the vaccination rates are high, every one should be mindful of the most vulnerable, being our elderly citizens, those with underlying health issues and those who are unvaccinated.

“As the prime minister alluded to in his speech last Thursday that, we need to take these freedoms responsibly.

“That, our journey to the new normal is not a sprint, rather, it is a marathon.”

He added, employers should continue to enforce COVID-safe protocols for their staff and customers.

Array
(
    [post_type] => post
    [post_status] => publish
    [orderby] => date
    [order] => DESC
    [update_post_term_cache] => 
    [update_post_meta_cache] => 
    [cache_results] => 
    [category__in] => 1
    [posts_per_page] => 4
    [offset] => 0
    [no_found_rows] => 1
    [date_query] => Array
        (
            [0] => Array
                (
                    [after] => Array
                        (
                            [year] => 2023
                            [month] => 12
                            [day] => 29
                        )

                    [inclusive] => 1
                )

        )

)

No Posts found for specific category