Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Finance, Professor Biman Prasad says he has been pushing for wider regional integration including with Australia and New Zealand where visa free travel can create ease of travel, sharing of knowledge, bringing together people and learning from each other's experience and wisdom.
While opening the Regional Analytics on Tax Compliance Workshop, Professor Prasad says Fiji has recently passed changes to regulation and laws, in particular the immigration law to entice the diaspora, descendants of citizens who are living in other countries and may not have a Fiji passport anymore.
He says the government is making it easier for them to come live, work and invest in Fiji without a permit.
Professor Prasad says at the moment if a person does not have a Fijian passport, they have to come and get a permit.
The Deputy Prime Minister says all people have to do now is to prove that they are descendants of Fiji citizens at the time of independence and thereafter.
He says the idea is to not only make it easier, but also connect the diaspora.
Professor Prasad adds the Pacific has a huge diaspora in many of these countries, particularly the US, Canada and the UK and there is a lot of knowledge and experience that gets built over so many years and Pacific island countries can benefit with the return those people.
