Minister for Women, Children and Poverty Alleviation, Rosy Akbar received the new Indian High Commissioner to Fiji, Shri Palaniswamy Subramanyan Karthigeyan, at the Ministry of Women, Children and Poverty Alleviation Headquarters in Suva this week.
Minister Akbar said the Ministry had a longstanding friendship with India especially in the facilitation of training for rural Fijian women as solar engineers at the Barefoot College in India and had received donations of sewing machines previously from the Indian Government.
Minister Akbar thanked the Indian Government for their assistance, especially as they were aimed at empowering women and girls in our local communities. She expressed her appreciation for the generous support, noting the importance of empowering women, girls and vulnerable persons in Fiji.
“The availability of women's economic empowerment programmes and technical support for the identified women’s groups are steps in the right direction for the Ministry. We are a people oriented Ministry dedicated to improving the lives of women, girls and the vulnerable,” Minister Akbar stated.
The Minister and the High Commissioner both acknowledged the ability and good sense in sharing knowledge and best practices to help the two governments continue to further improve the lives of their people through the work that the Ministry does.
High Commissioner Karthigeyan briefed the Minister on the extensive Capacity Building assistance provided by India and stated that India is privileged to contribute to the nation building efforts of Fiji.
Fijian students are also offered many fully-funded scholarships by the Indian government to study in the country's top universities, and he urged more Fijian students to take advantage of them.