Lands Minister Filimoni Vosarogo says Government wants to encourage Fijians, especially those who work the land, to move into ventures that yield higher returns.
He said this while meeting with the official representative from the Taiwan Trade Office to Fiji, Joseph Chow, this week.
Mr Vosarogo said Fiji could learn a lot from Taiwan, given their history of successfully evolving from one industry to another with very limited natural resources at their disposal.
The minister’s remarks came in the wake of Mr Chow’s explanation of how Taiwan was able to transition from a traditional agrarian economy — relying on rice, corn and bananas — into electronics, petroleum refining, and food processing.
“We want to venture into high-yielding agriculture, food processing, and other land-based businesses as opposed to some of the traditional sectors we continue to rely on which are now heavily subsidised by the government,” Mr Vosarogo said.
“Some of these transitions should have been done a long time ago. However, we need to start somewhere and Taiwan is an excellent model for this transition.
Mr Vosarogo said Fiji would need to invest in research and development as Taiwan had done in order to tailor-make solutions for its economic sectors.
The minister said his discussions with Mr Chow also revolved around mutual areas of co-operation such as scholarships, technical assistance and training in land administration and mineral explorations.
