THE private sector is the engine room of any country and Fiji is not an exception, says Minister for Lands and Mineral Resources, Filimoni Vosarogo.

Meli Koroitamana stresses a point during the Nadi Chamber of Commerce and Industry Annual Business Forum. Picture: REINAL CHAND

While officiating at the Nadi Chamber of Commerce & Industry hosted Annual Business Forum last week at Tanoa International Hotel in Nadi, Mr Vosarogo said agriculture, minerals and mining was still very much “untapped” and can become good economic drivers and tools of resilience in future.

“A very good example ahead of us is the Tuvatu Gold Mine in Sabeto whereby two of the villages very close by to the mine operations have a monthly secular economy of $25,000 and $50,000, respectively, as villagers from those settlements are staff members of Lion One Metals Ltd that operates the mines,” Mr Vosarogo said.

“A comprehensive roadmap for economic development in the form of our National Development Plan (NDP) 2025-2029 is in place and the onus is on us to transform that vision from book into reality.”

Mr Vosarogo reiterated that while tourism remained the largest contributing industry to the national GDP, the question that needed to be asked was what would happen when a global travel disruption like the global pandemic happened.

“We need diversification, we must act decisively and not depend on one industry, we need to diversify to make the economy more resilient while extracting value from natural resources responsibly and harnessing our oceans with care.”

Meanwhile, similar sentiments were echoed by NCCI president Dr Ram Raju saying the private sector was pivotal in supporting industrial growth and the primary industries.

“An honest and robust debate is warranted. There’s always a lot of talk about improving the national economy and the GDP and I believe it is now time for action,” Dr Raju said.