Fijians living in Northern America have invested over a million dollars during the US-Fiji Investment and Savings Drive in October this year but it does not take into account for the long-term impact of the relationships and the accounts established.
This has been highlighted by Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Trade, Manoa Kamikamica in his ministerial statement where he says services of some key agencies and financial institutions were made available for the diaspora in Seattle, San Francisco, Sacramento and Santa Rosa.
He also highlighted a major difficulty for the diaspora in opening bank accounts in Fiji remotely.
Kamikamica says many diaspora members, particularly those unable to travel to Fiji, are excluded from accessing banking services due to stringent in-person verification processes and to address this, HFC Bank in partnership with the Fiji Trade Commission, is looking at a way to allow diaspora members to open bank accounts remotely.
He says the teams have registered a few new bank accounts as part of this, and a formal announcement will be made as soon as everything is worked out logistically.
The Deputy Prime Minister says this will mean that we will witness an increase in deposits and investments from our diaspora community.
While commending Kamikamica for this initiative, Opposition Bloc of 16 MP Faiyaz Koya highlighted a successful Fiji born Canadian businessman who wants to come and invest in Fiji.
He says the businessman has highlighted that concerns on the stability of government policies and the overall investment climate.
Koya says incentives and policy stability in different sectors need to be looked at where the the businessman raised issues relating to land lease and whether different sorts of land was affordable and whether government would provide incentives.
Meanwhile, Opposition Bloc of 9 MP Penioni Ravunawa has also applauded the initiative and is urging the government to ensure that this initiative does not only attract financial investment, but also translate to real social, economic development, job creation, and ultimately a better standard of living for our people.
He adds it is also important to ensure that the interests of local communities and their environment are protected in any development strategies, and to be in line with the Sustainable Development Goals.
