Fiji Mission in Japan aspires to Maximise Return on Investments

Fiji’s strong leadership in driving the sustainable socioeconomic growth has strategically enhanced Fiji’s ongoing collaboration with the international countries. This has enabled the Fiji missions abroad to capitalize on the development opportunities that arise through Fiji’s deepened diplomatic relations at the global platform.

As such, Fiji’s Mission in Tokyo, Japan under the leadership of His Excellency Mr. Isikeli Mataitoga is focused on broadening Fiji’s cooperation to maximize return on investments. One of the key events that will enable the Mission to explore new areas of collaboration will be the 9th Rugby World Cup to be held in Japan this year and the Tokyo 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Games.

“These global sports events will unfold opportunities for Fiji to look at the commercial aspect of the sports diplomacy. Fiji’s Mission in Tokyo will also look at the potential of our players representing Fiji in Japan for the top league and remitting money to Fiji.

“In the case of rugby which is topical and given that RWC2019 will be held in Japan, we are now coordinating closely with the Fiji Rugby Union to see how efficiently we can capitalize on these sporting events to strengthen Fiji’s cooperation not only in rugby as a sport, but also its economic dimension to generate business and employment opportunities for Fiji,” Ambassador Mataitoga elaborated.

Efforts are also made by Ambassador Mataitoga and Fiji’s Mission in Tokyo to engage in discussions with the Japanese counterparts to explore the potential for Fiji to host the Fourth Ministerial Interim Meeting (MIM4) of the Pacific Islands Leaders Meeting (PALM) this year. As well as to see how Fiji can access more upskilling programs for the empowerment of Fijians, to secure working opportunities in Japan and to gain valuable skills training and exposure in construction industries and hospitality to name a few.

In terms of the infrastructural projects, Fiji’s Mission in Tokyo, in collaboration with relevant line ministries in Fiji, is consulting closely with JICA, Japan’s Ministry of Foreign to request the support for the Nadi River Realignment Project for flood mitigation.

Ambassador Mataitoga says that this project is of great significance given that Nadi is also the hub for Fiji’s tourism and trade industry.

In the context of the new priorities of the Japanese Indo-Pacific Strategy, the building of maritime infrastructure that contributes to Fiji’s sustainable economic development is one area of investment that Japan is keen to explore given their highly efficient technology and skills in this area, and in this context Ship Repairs and Dry-Docking is of interest.

Elaborating on the way forward for the Mission this year, Ambassador Mataitoga says the focus is to review its work plan to further strengthen collaborations between Fiji-Japan in all areas of economic activities, increase investment, tourism promotion through people to people exchanges at all levels of countries and development projects that will positively impact the livelihood of communities in Fiji.

He said the Mission is also focused on pursuing people-oriented programs that directly links to new income generating activities to benefit ordinary Fijians in rural communities.

Work will also continue by Fiji’s Mission in Tokyo to establish robust collaboration, not only with the Asian region but also with local stakeholders in Japan, government ministries and the Non-Government Organizations to intensify reach out to communities through programs that benefit the women, youths and Fijian families.