Agriculture identified as next frontier for Fiji–Australia trade

Agriculture has been named the next big bilateral trade push between Fiji and Australia, says Fiji Australia Business Council (FABC) president Himen Chandra, ahead of the 2026 Joint Business Forum in Suva next month.

Speaking at the forum’s media launch at the Asian Development Bank Fiji office in Suva on Friday, Mr Chandra said discussions between the FABC and government sectors had identified agriculture as an underserved but critical area needing more support.

“The next big push from our end will be agriculture, and I think that is a not widely supported area, but there needs to be a lot of action on that space,” Mr Chandra said.

“Agriculture is the next big thing that we are trying to push in conjunction with the Australian market and the Australian supply chain.”

FABC vice president Saud Minam, from the Asian Development Bank, said the council had already backed the sector financially through a partnership signed months ago.

“About four to five months ago, we did sign a deal, some award support to MDF related to agriculture,” Mr Minam said.

He said the results of that support would be presented to the council next week.

“They will be presenting their results next week to us, which basically will definitely lead us into coming out in the media and letting everyone know how the success has been.

“How do we create that bilateral trade between Australia and Fiji and Fiji and Australia,” Mr Minam said.

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