HIS EXCELLENCY RATU EPELI NAILATIKAU
CF, LVO, OBE (Mil), KStJ, CSM, MSD
President of the Republic of Fiji
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ADDRESS AT STATE DINNER IN PAPUA NEW GUINEA
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Your Excellency the Governor General of Papua New Guinea, Sir Michael Ogio and Lady Ogio,
The Honourable Prime Minister, Peter O’neill,
Honourable Ministers,
Your Excellencies the High Commissioners and Ambassadors,
Members of the Diplomatic Corp,
Distinguished Guests,
Ladies and Gentlemen

Bula vinaka, good evening and (local salutation,

I bring you the warmest greetings of the Fijian people and the Fijian Government.

It is a great honour for me to be making this official visit to Papua New Guinea.

And it is an even greater pleasure to be among friends, Wantoks who we also regard as valued partners in the effort to develop our region in the interests of all Melanesians.

The official ties between Fiji and Papua New Guinea have never been closer, as have the personal relationships that have been forged on both sides.

More of our people live in each other’s countries than ever before, investing personally in our burgeoning relationship and significantly expanding our social and economic ties.

Fijian companies are establishing strong footholds in Papua New Guinea, such as Fiji TV through its ownership of EMTV, Communications Fiji Limited, CJ Patel, Punjas and Vinod Patel.

And we warmly welcome the presence in Fiji of PNG companies such as the Bank South Pacific, MRDC-Pearl Pacific Resort, Computech Electronics and Handy Finance.

Fijians are especially excited about the rejuvenation of one of our capital’s iconic landmarks – the Grand Pacific Hotel – in a grand consortium of our two national superannuation funds – NASFUND and the FNPF – in partnership with your Lamana Group.

When the GPH – one of the fabled hotels of the old pacific – finally re-opens its doors in May, it will be a magnificent monument to our expanding relationship and an occasion for great celebration.

In a wider sense, Fiji and Papua New Guinea are the two pre-eminent Pacific Island nations and are regarded as such by our neighbours.

They look to us for leadership and support and we have done much, working together, to advance our collective cause, especially at the United Nations and in other global forums.

We must always strive to lead by example. We must set high standards of governance, transparency and service delivery that others can emulate. We must put the interests of ordinary people before sectional interests and those of our elites.

Through the Melanesian Spearhead Group, we share a vision of developing a common market, with a free flow of goods, services and labour through the MSG countries and of working as a bloc to strengthen our negotiating position in global trade.

We regard our existing bilateral trade as only a fraction of what is possible.

Fiji will soon be appointing a Trade Commissioner in Port Moresby with a brief to seek further opportunities.

Aside from our close ties in the MSG, Papua New Guinea is a valued partner in the Pacific Islands Development Forum, which includes representatives of civil society groups and business. Fiji sees the PIDF as a means to give greater weight to the views of the grassroots in our member countries. And the PIDF is a genuinely Pacific Island grouping, relatively free from outside influence.

We are making our Pacific voice heard in the great forums of the world. The Pacific Small Island Developing States – with Fiji and PNG jointly playing a leading role – are placing the issues that matter to us, like climate change, before the international community.

It is the best opportunity we have of getting our needs and concerns addressed. Because only by working closely together and speaking with one voice can we hope to be heard above the competing interests of other nations.

Your excellency, Mr Prime Minister, Ladies and Gentlemen, I have come to Papua New Guinea as part of Fiji’s effort to bind us even closer together.

But in my meetings, I have been quietly explaining, and will continue to do so about the huge strides we have made and are making in Fiji to produce a nation that is fairer, more just and provides better opportunities for every Fijian.


Before the end of September, we will hold the first genuinely democratic election in our history, of equal votes and of equal value instead of the racially weighted formula used in the past based on race and province.

We are deeply grateful as a nation for Papua New Guinea’s generosity and your desire to making a monetary contribution to the Fijian Elections Office. We look forward to receiving this generous donation in due course.

In the meantime, I am indeed honoured to convey to you all, the thanks of every Fijian for the contribution Papua New Guinea will be making to create our new democracy.

We have a new constitution that establishes a common and equal citizenry, that guarantees a range of civil and political rights and that provides ordinary Fijians with an unprecedented array of social and economic rights, such as the right to education, housing, and clean water.

This year, we have achieved a landmark transforming breakthrough in being able to provide our young people with free primary and secondary school education as well as a tertiary loans scheme so that poverty is no longer a barrier to higher studies. Our national infrastructure - such as our roads and ports - is also being upgraded to encourage investment and create jobs on which the ultimate fortunes of every Fijian depends.

And all over Fiji, rural and maritime communities are gradually and finally receiving basic services such as electricity and water that have been continually promised over the years but never delivered.

This social, economic and political revolution over the past seven years – coupled with the holdings of elections - will soon deliver a genuine democracy in Fiji that meets the highest international standards.
And it is gratifying that even some of our more skeptical neighbours are now coming to see the merits of that revolution.

We are determined that our general election before the end of September will be free and fair and express the genuine will of the people.

Fiji is proud to have forged an independent foreign policy based on the fundamental premise of being friends to all and enemies to none.

We have five hundred and eight Republic of Fiji Military Forces personnel serving in the United Nations Disengagement Observer Force in the Golan Heights, Syria; one hundred and ninety five in the United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq; and fifteen in the United Nations Mission in South Sudan.

There are twenty in the United Nations mission in Darfur, Sudan; twenty three in the United Nations Mission in Liberia; three hundred and twenty eight in the Multi-National Force and Observers in Sinai; and two in RAMSI, Solomon Islands.

All these Fijians are deployed in those countries protecting vulnerable ordinary people.

We are also sending our civilian volunteers, including teachers and health workers, into our pacific neighbours to boost their capacity and to improve the lives of their people. The Fiji Volunteer Services Scheme is already an outstanding success and we have plans to considerably boost this program in the coming months and years, and to expand the capacity building to other professional fields.

So while we stress the notion of serving our people at home, we also stress the need to serve our fellow pacific islanders and the global community in whatever way we can.

I also want to repeat the message that I am carrying on my visits throughout the region: that we must all do more as Pacific Islanders to take charge of our own affairs. We need a fundamental change in our psyche – in our mindset - and the way we see the world.

We need to take ownership of our problems, to acknowledge our own roles and responsibilities instead of seeing them as someone else’s.

When someone once asked the great Singaporean Statesman Lee Kuan Yew: quote: “what are you going to do for me?”, he replied: “what are you going to do for yourself?” This carries a very important message for us all.

We need to stop looking for donors and start looking for development partners.

And we need to stop asking those partners, “what are you doing for us?” But “what can you do to help us to help ourselves?”.

We need to abandon our tendency to seek for handouts.

I also want to again stress the urgent need for every one of us in the Pacific to start taking charge of our personal surroundings – to dispose of our rubbish properly; to keep our coastal areas clean; for every man, women and child to pick up the litter, the plastic bags and the empty bottles that are despoiling our beautiful surroundings. It means everyone accepting personal responsibility for the state of our environment.

It means everyone remembering and accepting that our coastal areas and the seas around us are our food source.

We need to preserve and protect our island homes not only for ourselves but for our children and the future generations.

Your Excellency, Mr Prime Minister, Ladies and Gentlemen.
The earliest known links between Fiji with Papua New Guinea extend back to the arrival in east new Britain in 1875 of eight Fijian missionaries, four of whom were killed in the course of their evangelizing.

In 1890, 14 Fijian police officers came to PNG to form the genesis of your own police force.

During the Second World War, Fijian troops of the First Fiji Infantry Regiment fought in Bougainville. My late father was a company commander. Our sole posthumous Victoria Cross winner, Sefanaia Sukunaivalu, VC, is buried in the Commonwealth War Cemetery at Bita Paka near Rabaul.

Over the years, Papua New Guinea students have studied at the Fiji School of Medicine, and later at the University of the South Pacific. Many returned to Papua New Guinea not only with well earned degrees and qualifications but also with wives. They earned double honours so to speak! And recently there are now 15 scholarships provided by the Fijian government to study tourism at the Fiji National University in Suva.

So we have a rich history of engagement stretching back almost 140 years - the solid foundation of an even greater period of engagement in the years to come - as we work together to build a better future for all Melanesians.

Your Excellency, Mr Prime Minister, Ladies and Gentlemen. Thank you for the wonderful hospitality you have shown me and my delegation.

I look forward very much to seeing more of Papua New Guinea, of meeting more of your people and of strengthening the great ties of friendship between our countries.

Vinaka vakalevu and tenkiu.