The objective of the National Economic Summit is to examine potential directions for future economic transformation.

The 2023 National Economic Summit starts this Thursday.

Finance Minister Professor Biman Prasad says there has been an overwhelming response from every sector in the country as this has provided a platform for people who will be able to express their views freely after 16 years.

“We will have plenary sessions on a number of different you know, thematic areas, then we have working groups, thematic areas, where people are going to sit down and discuss in an open you know, transparent way, their ideas. Now, that of course, all that would be reflected in a broad communique at the end of the summit.”

Prasad assures that the summit will not be the end of consultation and dialogue.

“We want to set up a small in a permanent secretariat within the Ministry of Finance, so that some of these domestic working groups can continue to work. They can continue to reveal what the government did or did not do as part of some of the recommendation. So this is not as some people would like to believe that this is not a summit to formulate a budget. The budget will be formulated by us but this is an opportunity for us to also hear from different sectors of our economy as to what people have.”

Prasad says the Fiscal Review Committee is also receiving well thought out submissions.

He adds that they also will provide a detailed report on the outcomes of the summit that will be held on Thursday and Friday in Suva.

You can watch the plenary sessions from the summit live on FBC 2 and also on our FBC News Facebook page.