A Fijian man, who was among 30 other Pacific Islanders who were evacuated from Wuhan City, China, wishes to meet and personally thank New Zealand Prime Minister, Jacinda Ardern, for their successful evacuation.

Joe Racaca commended the New Zealand Government for providing top-notch quarantine service to individuals who were evacuated to Auckland, New Zealand, following the COVID-19 outbreak in Wuhan.

“If I could meet the NZ Prime Minister, it would be a wonderful experience just to say thank you because they did a great job in evacuating us during a very tight situation, and I am very grateful to the Chinese, New Zealand and the Fijian governments for negotiating with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs,” Mr Racaca said.

Ms Ardern arrives into the country this evening for her first four-day official visit.

Mr Racaca, 33, from Nanukuloa in Ra arrived into the country yesterday afternoon after being quarantined for 14 days at the Whangaparaoa Military Training Facility in Auckland.

He is a student at the Wuhan University in the Hubei Province pursuing his Masters in Cartography and Geographic Information Engineering.

The father of four said if he had the chance to meet Ms Ardern, he would acknowledge her for the work she carried out in ensuring their needs were met.

“I’m feeling very happy, it has been a long trip, it has been 14 days and more but I am happy to be stepping foot on Fiji again.

“Their service was really good, the way they looked after us they were very hospitable, they had everything that we needed,” he said.

Edited by Ivamere Nataro

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