Today in Denarau, Attorney-General Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum expressed his heartfelt thanks to the hundreds of members of the Fiji Police Force, security officers, and other volunteers who helped deliver a safe and successful Asian Development Bank Annual Meeting in Fiji, the single largest international gathering ever hosted in the country.
“Thank you to everyone, our officers, our staff and all of our volunteers, for their incredible support towards Fiji’s hosting of the Annual Meeting of the Asian Development Bank. From escorting our VIPS to expertly manning our command centre, to providing security checks to keeping loading zones clear so that delegates arrive at venues on time to handling baggage, staffing the doors, giving out information and so many other important tasks, it is the attention to detail and sense of duty that you brought to this meeting which made everything flow so smoothly.
The feedback we have received from the ADB and delegates is that this meeting stands above as one of the best that has been hosted. The pride and professionalism of our police, and all of our other volunteers, represented the very best of Fiji to the world and made the success of this meeting possible.
Being part of this meeting has given each of you a level of exposure to how global conferences operate, and that’s a skill-set that has incredible value for the future of the Fijian economy. The specialisation of specific roles and duties throughout the week allowed our police officers to focus wholly on the many moving parts of a large-scale security operation, and you learned some valuable skills along the way that you will carry with you for the rest of your professional careers.
The hosting of this event has created enormous new opportunities for our country. The brand of Fiji has been strengthened in front of a prestigious global audience. We’ve filled hotel rooms during what is traditionally more of an off-season for tourism. The thousands of delegates who came to our country have spent money in Fiji, bought Fijian products, helped sustain Fijian jobs, paid taxes and helped drive economic growth and fund further development in our country. And I am certain that, because of the success of the ADB Annual Meeting, Fiji will soon be hosting even larger events than this 2,300-person conference; sporting events like international boxing matches, concerts and other large-scale events that support the growth our tourism, even in the off-season,” said the Attorney-General. "It is safe to say that we have ushered in a new era of conference-hosting capabilities in Fiji, with our economy and our people standing to benefit for years to come."