A consensus on the essentials for transforming Fiji’s ‘immense human capital’ into a nationally productive and innovative capacity will form part of deliberations for the proposed National Economic Summit (NES) in April this year.
Now referring itself as the People’s Coalition Government, Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka announced at a press briefing in Suva yesterday that Cabinet – at its meeting on Tuesday – agreed to hold the NES on April 20-21.
The 2023 Summit – proposed to be themed ‘Reshaping our Future through Genuine Dialogue and Collaboration’ – will be spearheaded by the Ministry of Finance.
It aims to create a “collective national vision, with adequate sector policies and an implementation framework for the People’s Coalition Government’s plan to chart a path towards economic recovery”.
And it also intends to set the ‘Economic Policy Agenda for Accelerated Economic Growth’, strengthened by sustainable and inclusive development.
Mr Rabuka said the Summit will deliberate on an actionable framework for:
- transformative and effective economic governance;
- build consensus on the imperatives for transforming Fiji’s immense human capital into a nationally productive and innovative capacity that creates a secure collective future of prosperity for all;
- identify pragmatic initiatives to elicit economic leadership at the sectoral level, adopting a ‘bottom-up’ approach to sectoral competitiveness that contributes to national economic growth and development; and
- articulate the framework within which economic priorities for Fiji are set out over the next four years.
Representatives from various sectors of the economy will be invited to attend, which Mr Rabuka said was in the spirit of adopting a consultative and collaborative approach towards addressing sustainable development issues at national, regional and global levels.
“As Fiji moves into an era of change, engaging with all segments of society is essential to achieve the People’s Coalition Government’s overarching objectives of: inclusive economic security, social justice, conscientious governance, political stability, inclusive participation in development, and environmental sustainability, drawing on lessons and insights of the past and present to set the economic policy agenda for the future.”
