One of the two directors of ‘Sustainable Mahogany Industries Limited’ told the Prime Minister today during his visit to their Navua factory that the Fiji Pure Mahogany Brand is being recognized by world leading guitar maker ‘Gibson Guitars’ as of world class.

“We supply Gibson guitars for the last three to four years and they’ve wrote to us saying that Fiji Mahoganies are certainly superior,” Mr  Wagner said.

Attorney General Aiyaz Sayed Khaiyum who accompanied Commodore Bainimarama on this visit said the company has the capacity for processing world class products.

“It also has a capacity to house world class processing of timber. I think that is quite important too because we have not had this type of processing taking place on such a scale,”  Mr Khaiyum  said.

Mr Wagner also told the Prime Minister today that they will be bringing in more equipment and indeed some of the refine work carried out off-shore will in fact carried out here in time to come.

Chief Executive Officer for Investment Fiji ( formerly FTIB) Mr Ravuni Uluilakeba said mahogany is one of the pillars of the forest industry.

“Mahogany industry (in Fiji)  is one of the pillar of forest industries in Fiji when you look at ways government has given in a lot of incentives in this industry. It is a critical one and hence the  drive by government to help out in mahogany industries to ensure that new or bigger investment’s come into the country but at the same time help out the indigenous owners in the land aspect of investment hence the importance of mahogany industry in Fiji,”Mr Uluilakeba said.

The chairman of the Fiji chamber of commerce Mr Peter Mazey said revitalizing the mahogany industry is very good for the economy.

“Well I think we’ve been hearing about the mahogany industries since the 90s when they keep calling it the $600 million a year business but never do anything about it. But now to see it here in the factory and seeing it working not being logged but actually being turned into a product. I hear they employ well over 100 people here at the factory, so the benefits to Fiji are incredible. To see value adding being done here instead of shipping logs that we’ve been doing for the last 10 years and seeing our exports increasing is very good for the economy,” Mr Mazey said.

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During his visit to the Sustainable Mahogany Industry factory in Navua the Prime Minister Commodore Voreqe Bainimarama was enlightened by a director, who said that the Fiji Pure Mahogany Brand was recognised as world class by international guitar maker ‘Gibson Guitars’.

“We supplied Gibson Guitars for the last three to four years and buyers have written to us saying that Fiji Mahogany is certainly of superior quality,” Mr  Wagner said.

Accompanying Commodore Voreqe Bainimarama on the visit yesterday, the Attorney General Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum, said the company had the capacity for processing world class products.

“It also has a capacity to house world class processing of timber. I think that is quite important too because we have not had this type of processing take place on such a scale,”  Mr Sayed-Khaiyum  said.

Sustainable Mahogany Industry’s American work partner Mr Wagner also told the Prime Minister they would bring in more equipment and some of the refinery work carried out off-shore will in fact be carried out here in time to come.

Investment Fiji ( formerly FTIB) chief executive officer Mr Ravuni Uluilakeba said mahogany was a pillar of the forest industry.

“Mahogany industry is a pillar of the forest industry in Fiji, when you look at ways Government has given in a lot of incentives in this industry,” Mr Uluilakeba said.

“It is a critical one and hence the  drive by Government to help out in mahogany industry to ensure that new or bigger investments come into the country, but at the same time help out the indigenous owners in the land aspect of investment.”

The Fiji Chamber of Commerce chairman Mr Peter Mazey said revitalising the mahogany industry was good for the economy.

“Well I think we’ve been hearing about the mahogany industry since the 90s. They keep calling it the $600million a year business but never do anything about it. Now to see it here in the factory and see it working not being logged but actually being turned into a product is great,” Mr Mazey said.

“I hear they employ well over 100 people here at the factory, so the benefits to Fiji are incredible.

“To see value adding being done here instead of shipping our logs like we’ve been doing for the last 10 years and seeing our exports increase is very good for the economy.”