The Asian Development Bank And Fijian Government Sign $6M Grant To Prepare For Tourism Upswing
The Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the Fijian Government signed a FJD$6.5million grant that will support Fiji’s COVID-19 preparedness for an anticipated increase in the arrival of tourists. The grant is financed by the Japanese Government’s Japan Fund for Prosperous and Resilient Asia and the Pacific.
Wednesday 25 May 2022 | 01:00
From left: Asian Development Bank regional director for the Pacific Subregional Office in Fiji Aaron Batten, the Japanese Ambassador to Fiji Kawakami Fumihiro, the Attorney-General and Minister for Economy Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum, Fiji Airways CEO Andre Viljoen and Airports Fiji Limited CEO Isei Tudreu following the signing of the grant agreement at the Fiji Airways Aviation Academy in Nadi on May 23, 2022. Photo: DEPTFO News
The Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the Fijian Government signed a FJD$6.5million grant that will support Fiji’s COVID-19 preparedness for an anticipated increase in the arrival of tourists.
The grant is financed by the Japanese Government’s Japan Fund for Prosperous and Resilient Asia and the Pacific.
The signing of the grant agreement was between the Attorney-General and Minister for Economy, Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum, ADB’s Regional Director for the Pacific Sub-regional Office in Fiji, Aaron Batten while Fiji Airways Chief Executive Officer, Andre Viljoen and Fiji Airports Chief Executive Officer, Isei Tudreu signed the project agreement with Mr Batten.
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The signing took place at the Fiji Airways Aviation Academy in Nadi on Monday.
The Fiji Enhancing COVID-19 Preparedness for Tourism Recovery Project is being supported by an in-kind contribution of $27,000 from the Fijian Government.
In his opening remarks, the Japanese Ambassador to Fiji, Kawakami Fumihiro said the project aimed to support Fiji’s tourism industry which was Fiji’s core industry by strengthening the COVID-19 responsiveness of airports.
Mr Fumihiro said this was the Japanese Government’s second assistance provided to Fiji following the global COVID-19 pandemic.
“This project is aimed at improving COVID-19 measures at Nadi International Airport and at expanding Fiji’s COVID-19 inspection capacities through the construction of inspection facilities as well as procurement of RAT-PCR (rapid antigen test-polymerase chain reaction) inspection machines, related lab equipment and consumables."
Some travellers who arrived from Australia at Nadi International Airport, on January 23, 2022. File Photo: Mereleki Nai
“We believe there’s numerous opportunities Government has provided grant funding to the BPO council, we worked with the Australian counterparts in that respect Fiji is a financial and telecommunications hub, there’s a lot more travel, a lot more infrastructure requirements at the airport, if you want to be a hub you need to ensure people feel safe to travel, we have the facilities up to date in respect to being able to deal with any sort of outbreak of viruses or any other variant or indeed generally making people feel safe too when they travel to Fiji.”
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