His Excellency the Prime Minister of Fiji Commodore Voreqe Bainimarama delivering his speech during the 30th anniversary celebration of Warwick, Coral Coast, 12 December 2009
26-Dec-2009

Cabinet ministers, your Excellencies, Mr. Richard Chiu, Ms Tammie Tam, distinguished invited guests, ladies and gentlemen.

Tonight is indeed a very special occasion. It marks 30 years of Mr. Richard Chiu’s ownership of this wonderful property. Indeed it was one of the very first resorts acquired by Richard when he founded the Warwick International Hotels (WIH) in 1980.

Using the Warwick here on the Coral Coast, which has become synonymous with Fijian tourism, as a base, Richard has expanded into Vanuatu and bought the Naviti.

I also understand he will be expanding into Samoa, Tonga and Tahiti. This will probably make WIH the largest hotel operator and developer in the Southern Pacific, excluding Australia and New Zealand - of course!

I wish to acknowledge and commend Richard’s contribution to the tourism industry in Fiji. He together with his loyal representative in Fiji Tammie who is the face of the Warwick, have shown commitment and dedication to Fijian tourism.

They have shown a willingness to work with the local community, the landowners and my Government. Richard has also shown that he is willing to upgrade and improve existing infrastructure and services. The upgrade of the Naviti is one such example. The construction of the water supply facilities to the Naviti village is another. He is also now using Fiji as his Southern Pacific base to expand into other markets in the region.

My only comment to him in this respect is, don’t forget that Fiji is the hub, in particular given the new route to Hong Kong, so you must always put Fiji first!

Ladies and gentlemen as you are aware my Government has provided the much needed impetus to the tourism industry to take Fijian tourism to another level.

We have done so by allocating unprecedented funding to Tourism Fiji, and we have taken a holistic approach to the tourism industry and the required and potential ancillary services. We have also provided attractive incentives to developers and investors and liberalized many laws that were an impediment to private sector investment and participation.

To give one such example is that now coastal trading licences can also be issued to such resorts and foreign owned entities. In addition we have reduced duty on all marine vessels which means that resorts such as these can operate marine vessels for their guests.

Richard and Tammie this is my indirect way of saying that you should seriously consider this opportunity!

Suffice to say my government is here to facilitate entrepreneurship on a level and transparent playing field – this is essential to grow our economy for the benefit of all.

Tonight ladies and gentlemen is Richard Chiu and his team’s night. They must be congratulated. Please put your hands together for Richard and his Warwick team.

Richard I thank you once again for your contribution to Fiji and her people. I wish you all the best in your future plans to expand the WIH Group and I am sure we will soon be celebrating another milestone of yours.

I wish you all a very pleasant evening.

Vinaka Vakalevu