Praneeta Prakash 
Finance Minister Professor Biman Prasad during the 2023 National Economic Summit
The country must continue to chart its own course for what is relevant and fitting for Fiji and its economy.
Finance Minister Professor Biman Prasad highlighted this during the 2023 National Economic Summit currently underway at the Grand Pacific Hotel in Suva.
He says as a new government they promised that they would be different.
Prasad says the summit is an important part of the promise they made of having genuine open consultation to meet critical economic challenges.
“We must take the important step from learning from the past including what the consequences have been of our failure over the time to maintain honest and open dialogue to diagnose and address our national problem.”
He says they have been criticized for the budget.
Prasad assures the nation that the money spent on the summit is far less than the estimated cost.
He says a huge amount of work has gone into the summit and has acknowledged the staff of the Finance Ministry.
He says the absence of a genuine economic summit has created wrong thinking.
He says the part of the summit is a reweaving network with other organizations which has been lost.
The finance minister says the summit is an important part of the new process.
Prasad says the two days summit will be intense as discussions will be held on water resource, management, transport and energy and they will cast a wide net over rural and maritime development.
He says they want the thematic working group to continue even after the summit and they will provide support to them.
He says the national economic summit is a new way forward and working in collaboration with those outside the government.
He says policy making and execution must happen in the open and there will be no secrecy.
“Until we get our processes right we cannot change anything and this summit is an important part of a new process. Additionally we have to rebuild institutional integrity, this is fundamental as we collectively gather, overcome challenges that are current and emerging. Institutional integrity and resetting the moral compass of governance, other cornerstone of new economic direction where we can ultimately achieve fiscal consolidation.”
The finance minister says policy making in a democracy is not a smooth path however he says Fiji needs wide public participation.
He says significant opportunities in tourism, commercial agriculture and sports among others.
Prasad says he is optimistic that the trust and confidence built during the two days will spin outwards and accelerate the economic winds of change that Fiji needs.
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