Minister for Lands and Mineral Resources Hon. Ashneel Sudhakar opened the African Caribbean and Pacific-European Union Development Minerals Programme implemented in partnership with United Nations Development Programme today.
Minister Sudhakar highlighted a key achievement of this program, the ACP-EU Development Minerals Programme funded a “Baseline Assessment of Development Minerals in Fiji’’, conducted by The Pacific Community (SPC).
“The study has addressed the importance of the Development Minerals for our economy. Development Minerals could contribute up to around 369 Million FJD per year and provide direct employment for at least 2325 citizens. The Development Minerals, once called “Neglected Development Minerals’’ are no longer neglected and overlooked.”
Minister Sudhakar said the Ministry will ensure due attention and care was extended to this strategic sub-sector for the development of the country and for the benefit of all Fijians.
“Indeed, in order to accommodate the national Development Plan, the Fiji Government needs a large quantity of quality aggregates (and I insist on the word quality). Quality materials are extremely important to build resilient infrastructure that will have a long lasting impact to our country and withstand the destructive force of natural disaster like Tropical Cyclone and the adverse impact of global warming,” Minister Sudhakar said.
The ACP-EU Development Minerals Programme is an initiative of the ACP Group of States and funded by the European Union.