Mr Lekh Ram Vayeshnoi - Productivity Awareness Campaign
Jun 2, 2008, 10:26

Mr. Lekh Ram Vayeshnoi, Minister for Labour, Industrial Relations, Employment, Local Government, Urban Development, Housing and Environment

Productivity Awareness Campaign

Tradewinds Convention Centre
Monday 2nd June, 2008 – 0900 hrs


Your Excellencies, Members of the Diplomatic Corps

Cabinet Ministers

Acting Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Labour, Mr. Osea Cawaru

Our APO/TES Expert from Malaysia, Mr. Mah Lok

The Director General of Training and Productivity Authority of Fiji,

Mr. Jone Usamate

Invited Guests

Ladies, Gentlemen and Children

A very Good Morning to you All.

Let me begin by saying how delighted I am to be here this morning to officially launch the 2008 Productivity Awareness Campaign. The campaign is an exercise which is of critical importance to Fiji as espoused in the 2005 Productivity Charter and one that needs all our support. I acknowledge your presence today Your Excellencies, Ladies and gentlemen as indicative of the recognition and value you have placed on an exercise that influences the life of this nation. I also want to acknowledge and welcome Mr. Mah Lok, the APO Technical Expert from Malaysia who will be here for the whole of this week to share his vast experiences in improving productivity in his country with all of us as well as our future leaders of productivity - our children to today’s function.

A lot has been said in the recent past about Fiji’s economic performance and the resilience of the economy to perform at a level that is desirable for growth. Let me state here that the downturn in the economy is not only felt here in Fiji but it is felt globally due to the crisis especially of oil and the havoc created by the weather. We all know that there is shortage of rice, wheat and milk and other essential products globally due to either too much rain, too much drought, and of course natural disasters like earthquakes, hurricanes and flooding. Economists have predicted a further downturn in the economy. Doom and Gloom have been the order of things in the recent past but what we strive for ourselves is blue skies and a promise that today will be better than yesterday and tomorrow will be better than today.

We, the people of Fiji have the potential to bring our country from the doldrums to economic vibrancy and it is you that I call upon for a concerted effort to do this.

Allow me at this point to speak briefly about Fiji’s past year’s economic performance. The Reserve Bank of Fiji has indicated that our economy contracted by at least 3.9% in 2007and remittances had fallen by as much as 30%. Furthermore, sugar and tourism did not perform as anticipated and it is also predicted that improvements in 2008 is not likely to happen due to the adverse weather conditions caused by “La-nino”.

A recent report released by the Reserve Bank of Fiji states that our inflation rate in April this year stood at a staggering 7.6%. However, the Central Bank has also predicted that this figure could ease against the backdrop of lower trading partner inflation as a result of the weakening global economy and the predicted stabilizing of the global crude oil prices.

In addition, while inflation is also one of the areas of concern, I must stress that it is important to increase activities that increase production. The industries concerned must look at ways to address the problems that are peculiar to their line of work and strike agreements with suppliers if they happen to be overseas based. I am referring here to Australian suppliers of dairy and wheat products. I also believe that fiscal and excise duties need to be regulated to allow for some of these economic activities to thrive.

Recently the Chairman of the Macroeconomic Policy Committee and Governor of the Reserve Bank of Fiji, Mr. Savenaca Narube made the announcement that visitor arrivals into Fiji was expected to increase and this was going to have a positive impact on the hotels & restaurants and transport industries. This is indeed heartening!!! He also stated that there was an expected expansion of exports by 7.7% this year from last year which is also very encouraging.

At this juncture ladies and gentlemen, I wish to challenge you all.

What can we do individually, collectively as a family, as a village or a settlement, a company or organization to ensure that we begin to make small but tangible improvements in the things that we do, our work lives and ultimately have an impact on the economy of our country? While we acknowledge that there is a decline in our economic growth, there is this overwhelming sense of confidence in the positivism of people in Fiji. We are known to have bounced back from depths of despair to accomplish achievements that even our worst critics predicted were not possible. We have abundant natural resources yet to be fully tapped and which requires every ones inputs to be realized.

I must stress however, that this will require much out of us as a nation. It calls for selfless sacrifices and that the ‘blame game’ has no place in our sincere efforts to rebuild this nation. We need to be forward looking or visionaries, instead of always lamenting about the past. I am very confident that if we pulled together, a lot more is possible for us as a nation.

What Fiji needs is renewed business confidence and private investment to increase.

Training institutions like the Training & Productivity Authority of Fiji and the Fiji Institute of Technology must work closely with government and align their work with government’s strategic goals so that the required number of people is trained and that they are trained for specific areas that need to be supplied with skilled workers.

Ladies & gentlemen, I am hopeful that I have challenged you to recognize that we all have a role in rebuilding our beloved nation. We can rebuild this nation, and rebuild we must. When we all start individually, then only can we reach out collectively to others in our organizations. It all starts with you – will you rise to the challenge?

Besides being here to officially launch the Productivity Awareness Campaign, my other task is to launch the Productivity Champion Awards and the Productivity Mascot: “Timi” the Ant.

I must acknowledge the foresight of the Training & Productivity Authority in designing an Award Program to recognize innovative individuals who are
making a difference in the effectiveness of their organization.

The Award recognizes individuals, from organizations who have principal activities in Fiji, who have taken extraordinary steps to achieve outstanding results in a fiscally challenging time. By establishing exemplary work practices and environments that enable their companies to provide excellent service to their customers, these individuals truly deserve to be called our "Productivity Champions!"

Following a criteria that truly wants to identify and acknowledge the efforts taken by individuals to improve productivity in their organizations, I hope you all agree is a means of promoting productivity and encouraging people to go the extra mile in improving systems and processes in their organizations. I can already foresee the Award System becoming a truly integral part for recognizing people in our organizations and which complements the efforts and vision given in the Employment Relations Promulgation 2007.

And now to a most interesting character. The mascot of the Productivity Awareness Campaign is ‘Timi’ the Ant. It is no coincidence that the ant was chosen by the Secretariat of the Productivity Awareness Campaign. We all know that the ant is one of the most renowned productive insects of the world.

An interesting feature of the Ant is that it is always a team player. Though small in size they achieve much more as they are constantly working and moving as ant colonies. The message that Timi wants to send everyone is: not only must we work hard, but we must be productive in all that we do – whether we are school children, farmers, white collar workers or entrepreneurs - we can achieve much more when we work and cooperate as a team. Can we, all the people of Fiji unite and work as a team with a common vision to build a nation that becomes the envy of the world; the nation which used to be called “THE WAY THE WORLD SHOULD BE”? Of course we can!!

Ladies and Gentlemen, I now have much pleasure in launching this year’s Productivity Awareness Campaign, the Productivity Champion Awards (Pause – Sound of Drum Rolls & Untying of Banner) and Timi the Ant as Mascot for the Productivity Campaign (Pause – Sound of Drum Rolls & Untying of Banner) .

Vinaka Vakalevu,
Dhanyavaad,
Thank You.



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