Communication with Chinese clients by the Fiji Ports Corporation Limited (FPCL) will no longer be a barrier now.

This is after the successful graduation of 15 FPCL officers last week from 10 weeks training on Chinese Language Beginners Level course.

FPCL chief executive officer Vajira Piyasena said the course was relevant to their line of work and is aimed at improving efficiency, effectiveness and accountability due to the increased number of Chinese nationals conducting business at our ports.

“To be honest, communications with our Asian customers has always been a challenge and through this training, we hope to be addressing this need,” Mr Piyasena said.

This is an effort to mitigate misunderstandings between customers and the corporation.

“They need to at least understand and communicate basic Chinese language in order to avoid any misunderstanding as we continue to work on improving our service delivery to our customers – regardless of where they are from and which language they speak,” Mr Piyasena said.

Mr Piyasena congratulated the staff on their graduation and saluted them for their effort and positive attitude towards learning.

He also thanked the Confucius Institute of the University of the South Pacific for facilitating the corporation’s request.

The course was tailor-made or specifically put together based on the daily experiences of the employees. Majority of the course participants are based at the Port Mua-i-Walu Wharf 1 where the Chinese fishing vessels berth.