FIJI OVERVIEW

Fijian Infrastructure and Economy

- Fiji is the most advanced economy in the Pacific island region and is the hub for air and sea transportation and telecommunications in the South Pacific.

Fiji is a viable venue for investment because of the unique blend of advantages the country offers to foreign investors; favourable environmental, economic and social circumstances and the continuing application of the free enterprise philosophy; a well developed economic infrastructure, good international air and sea links and telecommunications, and an adaptable efficient, English speaking workforce.

These advantages are reinforced by a government and people committed to the development of Fiji's tourism industry; a commitment underlined by special incentives and real growth. An exciting and timely opportunity for foreign investors.

• Tourism Based Economy

The dominant industries of Fiji for foreign exchange earnings are tourism and sugar. For the year ending 1997, they earned the country some $673.649 million, $460.2m being the contribution from Tourism. The tourism industry dominated by the private sector has been the country's largest foreign exchange earner over the last three years. Tourism expenditure generates an estimated 15% of GDP (minus investment) and provides employment to about 40,000 or 15% of the workforce.

• Telecommunications

Fiji is equipped with sophisticated technology for both domestic and international communications. All major cities and towns have automatic telephone exchanges and Fiji is linked by cable and satellite to world-wide networks for international direct dialling (IDD) and Vodafone, mobile phones.

• International Airports

Fiji has two international airports located at Nadi and Suva. Nadi International Airport is the principal port of entry and is used by most international airlines operating on trans pacific air routes. Nadi airport is fully equipped and has the capacity to handle stretched jumbo sized aircraft. Fiji became the first nation in the world to approve and use global positioning system (GPS) as navigation system for its aircraft.

• Time Zones

Spanning the 180th meridian, Fiji is exactly 12 hours ahead of Greenwich Mean Time. Fiji is on the same time zone as New Zealand; 2 hours ahead of Sydney, 3 hours ahead of Tokyo, 4 hours ahead of Hong Kong, and 14 hours ahead of New York.

• Health, medical and education facilities

Fiji has an effective, western style medical system and medical facilities are widely available throughout the island. Fiji is free of all major tropical diseases, including malaria, yellow fever and many others diseases endemic in other tropical countries. Fresh water is treated and is safe to drink from the tap.

Fiji has a large number of non-government and government schools that provide primary and secondary education and an international school for overseas students. The University of the South Pacific, recognised as the leading university for the region, is located in Fiji's capital city, Suva. Other tertiary colleges include the Fiji Institute of Technology, Fiji School of Medicine, School of Agriculture, School of Maritime Studies, School of Medicine and three teacher training colleges.

• Business

Fiji has a well developed banking system controlled by the Fiji government through the Reserve Bank of Fiji. There are six trading banks with established operations in Fiji. The National Bank of Fiji is owned by the Fijian government and openly competes with other banks for trading:

• Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Limited.
• Bank of Baroda
• National Bank of Fiji
• Westpac Banking Corporation Ltd
• Habib Bank Ltd
• Bank of Hawaii

All commerce is carried out in Fijian dollars, which are currently just under par with the Australian dollar. The major accounting firms have branch offices or are represented in Fiji.

OVERSEAS FIJI VISITORS BUREAU OFFICES:

Australian Fiji Visitors Bureau Sydney, Fiji Visitors Bureau - Melbourne

New Zealand Fiji Visitors Bureau - Los Angeles

Canada Fiji Visitors Bureau

Japan Fiji Visitors Bureau - Tokyo

FIJI MISSIONS & HONORARY CONSULS:

Australian Fiji Embassy - Canberra, Fiji Consul - Sydney

Belgium Fiji Embassy - Brussels

Canada Honorary Consul - Ottawa, Honorary Consul - Vancouver

Indonesia Honorary Consul - Jakarta

Japan Fiji Embassy - Tokyo

Korea Honorary Consul - Seoul

Malaysia Fiji Embassy - Kuala Lumpur

New Zealand Fiji Embassy - Wellington, Fiji Consul - Auckland

Papua New Guinea Fiji Embassy - Port Moresby

United Kingdom Fiji Embassy - London

United States Fiji Embassy - Washington

United Nations Fiji Permanent Mission - New York

OVERSEAS MISSIONS IN FIJI:

Australia Embassy of Australia, Suva

Britain British Embassy, Suva

China Embassy of the Peoples Republic of China, Suva

European Union Delegate of the European Union, Suva

France Embassy of France, Suva

Japan Embassy of Japan, Suva

Korea Embassy of the Republic of Korea, Suva

Malaysia Embassy of Malaysia, Suva

Marshall Islands Embassy of the Republic of the Marshall Islands, Suva

Micronesia Embassy of the Federated States of Micronesia, Suva

Nauru Embassy of Nauru, Suva

New Zealand Embassy of New Zealand, Suva

Papua New Guinea Embassy of Papua New Guinea, Suva

United States of America Embassy of the United States of America, Suva