The Jet Volume 7 Number 10

JULY 2015. ISSUE 69 www.thejetnewspaper.com 50 CENTS

Ni SaBula

By ANUSHIL KUMAR

Nadi, the tourism capital of Fiji and the fastest developing town-ship in the South Pacific will once again be a hive of activity as the 55th Digicel Bula Festival is all set to roll out for the residents and visi-tors of the country.

Dubbed as Fijis only unbro-ken festival and the biggest pub-lic event in the entire western division, Bula Festival has always stood for people and organizations of our beloved country in times of great need.

And since its inauguration by a number of Nadi business entre-preneurs in 1960, the festival has made a remarkable difference in the lives of thousands of people and contributed towards projects which leave everlasting impacts on the society.

The festival has also helped put food on the tables of thousands of needy families and educated many children who have broken out of the poverty cycle through education.

Nadi Bula Festival Trust presi-dent Mohammed Hafiz said like the resilient people of Nadi, the

festival has never deterred from its objectives and this year the Trust will continue its charity work with focus now shifting to victims of house fires.

He said they would also be as-sisting the Foundation for the Edu-cation of Needy Children (FENC) financially to identify students who needed support.

We will be assisting fire victims of Nadi who lost their homes, stu-dents who need financial help for school (FENC), the Nadi childrens park, local schools and a new proj-ect to buy a property and build an office for the Bula Festival Commit-tee to help in their operations, Mr Hafiz said.

We hope that the local busi-nesses will support the festival to help unfortunate families who do not receive enough to cater for their needs.

Media liaison officer of Nadi Bula Festival Trust, Tagimeucia Ko-roivuki said healthy living remains a focus for them as a range of ac-tivities has been planned for the cultural nights.

We have the various cultural nights leading up to the crowning night as well as baby shows and fun activities to include children, she said.

However, this year we are looking to include fun physical ac-tivities to encourage healthy living for the local community.

The fun-filled week-long festival begins on July 31.

FIJIS FIRST COMMUNITY NEWSPAPER

2014 Digicel Bula Festival Queen with major sponsor and Nadi Bula Festival Trust President Mohammed Hafiz after the crowning night last year. Photo: MARGARET NAQIRI.

ByANUSHILKUMAR

www.thejetnewspaper.com www.epapergallery.com/thejet

THE JET - FIJIS FIRST COMMUNITY NEWSPAPER2

PICK OF THE MONTH

ON THE BRIGHT SIDE

Fiji - the way the world should be Being the hub of the Pacific, Fiji has everything that a spectacular tropical paradise has to offer - from private island resort accommodations, top class restaurants to white sandy beaches, inbound tours, jet boat rides, hot air balloon rides, mountain trekking, inland tours, eco tourism, sky diving, helicopter rides, cruise trips, scuba diving, massage and beauty parlours, vibrant night life and a

lot more than any other destination in the world offers

q ANUSHIL KUMAR

THE JET is Fijis first community newspaper published bi-monthly by YOURSPACE LIMITED from Nadi - the tourism capital of Fiji.

PUBLISHER : SAMUEL SHANKAR Cell: 9966115EDITOR/ NEWS : ANUSHIL KUMAR Cell: 9203847PRODUCTION : MUNAUWAR KHAN Cell: 9222456NEWS : IVA DANFORD NAISARA Cell: 9203847ADVERTISING : MARGARET NAQIRI Cell: 9360047 : NAVINESH KRISHNA Cell: 8356609 OFFICE PHONES : 6707075 / 6750443EMAIL : [email protected] : [email protected] : www.thejetnewspaper.com

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Contact District Officers: PublicUrged

Members of the public are advised by the Ministry of Health and Medical Ser-vices to take precautions in preventing and controlling the spread of chickenpox.

This issue came into con-cern following 53 cases of chicken pox that were re-ported in the Suva subdivi-sion last month.

Chickenpox (varicella) is a viral illness caused by the herpes zoster virus (also known as the Varicella-Zos-ter virus).

The infection is conta-gious and anyone who has not had chickenpox or has not been vaccinated in the

Be Cautious of Chickenpox:

Public Advisedpast is at risk.

The symptoms of chick-enpox occur two weeks after people are exposed to the virus. Chickenpox may begin with a sudden slight fever, running nose, feeling generally unwell and a skin rash. The rash usually begins as small red lumps that turn into little blisters that usually break leaving scabs.

The Ministry is advising people with chickenpox to avoid attendance to child-care, school, work and to avoid public places.

People facing water disruptions in the West-ern Division are urged to contact their respective district officers.

Issues were brought up by the public that they are facing intermittent water supply or have dry water sources due to the current weather condi-tions.

Commissioner West-ern Manasa Tagicakibau said consulting the right person will facilitate members of the public who have been affected to access water for free from the Water Authority of Fiji (WAF).

The district office will then provide these communities with a slip that will enable them to receive free water from WAF and assist them in

their supply, he said.The slips would be

provided for those that have transportation to transport the free water from the WAF supply bas-es to their communities.

Mr Tagicakibau said this practise is currently being carried out on mainland Viti Levu while those in the maritime is-lands of Yasawa and Ma-manuca Group have a barge carting water to the villages and settlements.

He said they are also working with the Govern-ment Shipping Services (GSS) for a barge to be based in Lautoka to assist in improving the rate in which water is carted.

He urged members of the public to refrain from abusing the service pro-vided by WAF.

Meanwhile, all dam levels around the country are reported safe.

This is a government that is on the side of the workers, doing things to actually improve their conditions rather than just talking about it.

These were the words of the Hon. Prime Minis-ter Josaia Voreqe Baini-marama while officiat-ing as chief guest during the R.C Manubhais

awards night held at the Vodafone Arena in Suva on July 11.

Bainimarama be-lieves that the current government under-stands how to take into consideration and bal-ancing all factors, such as the rights of work-ers, encouraging new investment, sustaining jobs, giving opportunity to make profits, creating new jobs, while ensur-ing working conditions and living conditions im-

prove.My government in-

troduced and passed a new law that will sig-nificantly improve the amount payable under workers compensa-tion, he said.

He adds so if you have an accident at work, the compensation amount that you will now re-ceive under the workers compensation act will be more than double then what it was before and his amount had not

Government of Workers

By ANUSHIL KUMAR

By IVA DANFORD - NAISARA

Taskforce Initiated for Dry Spell

As a result of the pro-longed dry spell which is currently being expe-rienced in the country, a Divisional Taskforce has been activated in the western division.

This is headed by the Commissioner Western Division Manasa Tagi-cakibau.

The taskforce is fo-cused on ensuring mini-mal disruptions to ser-vices especially water in the homes of Fijians in the division.

Mr Tagicakibau, while speaking to heads of departments in the di-vision, highlighted the about work which start-ed earlier this month.

Currently water cart-ing has already begun and we are currently carting water to people in the Yasawa Group, the Mamanuca Group and also to some com-munities in the divi-sion, he said.

There are 10 dis-tricts that are being as-sisted through water carting and this includes 3, 964 homes and five schools.

Government agen-cies such as the health, education, sugar, po-lice, provincial develop-ment, agriculture, water authority, Fiji Electricity Authority, Fiji Metrologi-cal Services and Wom-en among others were also given opportunity to highlight on the plans that is already in place.

Mr Tagicakibau said the FEA has recorded dam levels at Monasavu dams to be at 735, 500.

The critical level for Monasavu is at 715, 000 showing that levels are currently healthy.

FEA has also pur-chased a 40MW gen-erator as standby should the need arise.

As for WAF, all dams around the country have been reported healthy levels.

By ANUSHIL KUMAR

A village boy shows the effect of dry spell on land.Photo:SUPPLIED

been changed for over 21 years.

Bainimarama says in the event of anyone being killed at work the amount of compen-sation doubles from $24,000 to $50,000 and in the event of disabil-ity from an accident at work the amounts have increased to almost $70,000.


THE JET - FIJIS FIRST COMMUNITY NEWSPAPER 3

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SHELLTAILS: Ready to Drink

q DAVUI DISTILLERY



LOCAL NEWS

Statement by the Prime Minister on the Flag

I believe the mood for change is strong. The challenge is to find a de-sign that speaks to every-one. And that is what we will achieve in the coming weeks and months. To hone in on a flag design that we can all hoist with pride. That speaks to ev-eryone. That embodies our nation and its values.

We have had feedback teams visiting a range of communities. Our feed-back tells us that the Fijian people definitely agree on the need to change the existing flag. We also es-timate that Fijians viewed the 23 existing designs more than 70-thousand

times on the national flag website. Thats actual participation in the pro-cess.

Broadly speaking, what the Fijian people are say-ing is this: Yes, we agree on the need for a new na-tional symbol. But show us a design we like. Give us more choices. Give us more time to consider them. And that is what they are going to get.

I passionately believe that we need a national flag with symbols that represent the Fijian spirit today and into the future. That speaks to us all as Fijians, not as a people once ruled by the British.

True leadership is hav-ing the courage to stand up and see the future. And the future I see is of a modern nation state with a national flag that repre-sents the present and fu-ture, not the past.

We now have until the end of the year Decem-ber 31st - to complete this process. So the Fijian people have the time to fully consider new alter-natives.

We have listened.

We Now Need to Take our Beloved Nation to the Next Level: PM

q HON PRIME MINISTER OF FIJI

To educate more of our people and provide them with skills. To work harder and smarter to improve our economy and fulfill our vision of Fiji becoming a modern nation state.

These were the words of Prime Minister Voreqe Bainimarama to the R.C Manubhai employees and all the nations workers during the R.C Manubhais awards night at Vodafone Arena in Suva on Saturday, July 11.

He said his Government intends to do so by strength-ening the grand partnership they have with employers and workers to move Fiji forward together.

This is a government that is on the side of the workers, doing things to ac-tually improve their condi-tions rather than just talking about it.

This is a government that understands how to take into consideration and balancing all factors, such

as the rights of workers, en-couraging new investment, sustaining jobs, giving op-portunity to make profits, creating new jobs, while ensuring working condi-tions and living conditions improve, Mr Bainimarama said.

On Thursday, July 9, the government introduced and passed a new law that will significantly improve the amount payable under workers compensation.

So if you have an ac-cident at work, the com-pensation amount that you will now receive under the workers compensation act will be more than double then what it was before Thursday. This amount had not been changed for over 21 years.

In the event of anyone being killed at work, the amount of compensation more than doubles from $24,000 to $50,000.

In the event of disability from an accident at work the amounts have increased to almost $70,000.

Earlier this year, the gov-ernment also increased the FNPF contributions of em-ployers to 10 per cent while

leaving the workers contri-bution at 8 per cent.

The Prime Minister said part of their education revo-lution gives workers the op-portunity to improve their skills in a variety of disci-plines at the new network of technical colleges.

We of course are provid-ing free education for your children and families and free medicine, free water, subsidized bus fares and electricity for those earning below a particular income level.

The opposition mem-bers including some big name trade unionists have no idea how a modern economy works but we do. They dont understand how to balance all consider-ations.

He advised everyone to work together as one nation, as one people, as Fijians. Government, em-ployers and workers to in-crease the productivity.

Produce more by work-ing harder to grow our na-tional cake so that everyone can get a bigger slice.

By ANUSHIL KUMAR

The Ministry of Wom-en, Children and Poverty Alleviation has ventured into a partnership with the Fiji Bus Operators Association (FBOA) to meet the needs of the disadvantaged in the so-ciety.

This follows the launching of the project on priority seating with a messaging platform in buses on Saturday, July 11, by the Minister for Minister for Women, Children and Poverty Al-leviation, Mrs Rosy Akbar.

This initiative for designated seating for the elderly and disabled in buses came about through the many con-sultations that my min-istry carries out with the people of Fiji, Minister

Ministry Launches Priority Seating

Akbar said. This is a great way to

show our senior and dis-abled citizens and even expectant mothers that we care for them.

The FBOA accepted the opportunity to use buses as a medium to get the message of care and protection of chil-dren by advertising the child helpline number 1325 on the backrest of designated seats in buses.

Fiji Bus Operators As-sociation President, Mr Parmod Chand encour-aged bus operators to get on board and be part of this government ini-tiative.

We are have ad-vertisements to raise awareness on social is-

sues such as child abuse and domestic violence through notices on the back seat, Mr Chand said.

These advertise-ments will mean thou-sands of travelling peo-ple will be made aware of the services available to reach out to the Minis-trys Child Helpline and information for domes-tic violence survivors.

This initiative is one of the ways to create a more inclusive society for the people with dis-abilities in the country.

q DEPTFOMinister Rosy Akbar with stakeholders at the launch of Priority and Courtesy seating for the disabled, senior citizens and pregnant mothers. Photos: SUPPLIED.

Xavier College Wins Eco-Contest

Xavier College defeated Nadis Sangam SKM Col-lege (SSKMC) in the final to win the 2015 UniFiji- McDonalds Eco-Contest held at the University of Fiji, Saweni campus in Lautoka.

The Ba-based school received a trophy, a lap-top for the school while each participating student received a cash prize of $250.

SSKMC received a cash prize of $300 while the participating students re-ceived $200 cash prize.

Certificates of partici-pation were presented to

all the participants who made it to the pool games and above.

Eco-Contest Coordi-nator, Priyatma Singh said they hope to create awareness through this quiz competition on en-vironment and natural resources as well as build strong collaborations and provide a platform for a healthy environment for competitions amongst the youngsters. .

The number of par-ticipating schools has increased over the years and students have devel-oped a strong liking for Eco-Contest, she said.

The teachers work hard and the team effort amongst the different schools have enhanced

over the years.The questions in the

quiz are based on Envi-ronmental issues, Eco-system, Renewable en-ergy, Biodiversity, climate Change and Natural Re-sources.

Eco-Contest is part of McDonalds Global Envi-ronmental Commitment to reduce solid waste, conserve and protect nat-ural resources.

Priyatma said this contest will help create Youth Ambassadors of Natural Resources and Environment among the secondary school stu-dents.

The University of Fiji is indebted to McDonalds Fiji for their kind sponsor-ship and support.

Participating students of Xavier College with teachers, officials and organising committee of UniFiji-McDonalds Eco-Contest. Photo: SUPPLIED.

By ANUSHIL KUMAR



LOCAL NEWS

Prepare Your Head, Heart and Hands: Tudreu advice Firefighters

Airports Fiji Limited (AFL) general manager Air Traffic Management and Aviation Training, Isei Tu-dreu highly motivated the Nauru fire-fighters current-ly undergoing aviation fire-fighting courser in Nadi.

Tudreu urged the fire-fighters to be prepare their head, heart and hands in order to tackle any fire in-cident.

You need to engage your head for knowledge, your heart for the right at-titude and your hands with the right skills to be in a state of readiness to meet any situation that will arise, he said.

I want you to strength-en your grip.

The goal of your train-ing is to ensure that youre prepared.

When you go to Nauru,

youre prepared to meet this global demand but ef-fected locally in Nauru.

Your role as a rescue fire-service officer is to be in a state of readiness.

He instructed the Nauru recruits to know their rules of engagement.

Tudreu said the Inter-national Civil Aviation in-dustry contributes $2.2tril-lion to the global domestic product and it carries more than 2.9 billion people per annum.

The environment that we operate in, its a high-risk environment.

Peoples lives are at stake.

What youre going to do, you must know how to do it effectively, he con-cluded.

AFL acting training of-ficer fire Semi Banuve is training the five first-year recruits from Nauru that will last for two weeks.

Calls have been made to Government to in-crease the number of di-alysis centres around the country and supplement the current five which are located in Lautoka, Suva and Labasa.

During the National Development consulta-tion at the Namaka Pub-lic School in Nadi , mem-bers of the public also requested for a reduction in charges at the centres.

Currently there are

dialysis centres at the Co-lonial War Memorial Hos-pital, Lautoka Hospital, Labasa Hospital and two private centres in Suva and Nadi.

We have only a few centres around the coun-try which is also very ex-pensive, he said.

We would like to see Government providing this critical service in all major centres around the countries in the next five to ten years.

Calls for More Dialysis Centres

Airports Fiji Limited (AFL) Communications & Public Relations Officer, Christopher Chand (1st from left), general manager Air Traffic Management and Aviation Training, Isei Tudreu (5th from left) and Manager Airport rescue fire services, Abdul Shaheed (6th from left) with the five Nauru recruits undergoing training in Nadi. Photo: ANUSHIL KUMAR.

Pandit Vishnu Deo Memorial College cel-ebrated International Day Against Drug Abuse and Illicit Drug Traffick-ing (IDADAIT) at the Uni-versity of Fiji Hall on July 1 and was addressed by the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Fiji Pro-fessor Prem Misir on its importance.

In his keynote speech, Professor Misir said the National Substance Abuse Advisory Council (NSAAC), Ministry of Edu-cation, Heritage & Arts of the Government of Fiji celebrates this Inter-national Day to advance prevention efforts now and throughout the year to safeguard the health of teens and young adults in Fiji.

The National Sub-stance Abuse Advisory Council (NSAAC) contin-ues to be the champion against drug abuse and illicit drug trafficking, he said.

The fact that you can be here in this hall to-day participating in this fight is testimony to the pioneering and patriotic work of the NSAAC.

Professor Misir added

the whole point of the event is to raise con-sciousness because it is a conscious-raising ex-ercise that requires daily attention which is the ex-actly the purpose of the exercise.

The Fiji Police Force found that 300 drug-relat-ed crimes were commit-ted in 2014, largely among the 15-26 age groups, he said.

He stressed young peo-ple who continue with this drug-related behav-ior from their early years in school and beyond are setting themselves up to become victims of non-communicable diseases

Pandit Vishnu Deo Memorial College Marks International Drug Abuse Day

By IVA DANFORD-NAISARA

Mohammed Mustapha of Waqadra in Nadi said that he understood that resources were limited to Government.

I understand it is very costly to set up a dialysis centre but maybe govern-ment could start taking into consideration the establishment of these centres.

q DEPTFO

as well as communicable diseases.

The drug world is a friend of both communi-cable and non-commu-nicable diseases, said Professor Misir.

He concluded by say-ing that this type of school activity has to be linked with community-based efforts through youth, parents, educators, gov-ernment officers, among others, to strengthen sup-port systems that would discourage Fijis young people from drug con-sumption and enhance equally academic per-formance and workforce readiness.

Vice-Chancellor Prof. Prem Misir addressing the students of Pandit Vishnu Deo Memorial College. Photo:SUPPLIED.

By ANUSHIL KUMAR



LOCAL NEWS

Foundation for Rural In-tegrated Enterprises and Development (FRIEND) - a development Non-Govern-mental Organization pro-ducing and promoting local goods for sustainable liveli-hoods has entered into a distributor agreement with Motibhai Group of Compa-nies.

FRIEND is very thank-ful to the Motibhai Group of Companies for this agree-ment of distributorship as they understand the gour-met nature of our products and its target markets with its strong and long history of dealing with quality gour-met products, FRIEND Founder and Director Sashi Kiran said.

Its a proud moment for all our local farmers and rural women producers of the Friends Fiji Style range of delicacies made from tra-ditional recipes as they now sit with other prestigious brands associated with the Motibhai Group, Ms Kiran added.

The new agreement does not come as a surprise as the Motibhai Group has

been a longtime supporter of FRIEND.

Ten-years-ago when I was struggling to introduce the products into the mar-ket, an appointment with the then CEO Mr Mahendra Motibhai Patel proved posi-tive as he saw the quality of the products and the at-tempts at improving liveli-hoods. Mr Patel at the time did not think twice in giving his commitment and sup-port to FRIENDs work, Ms Kiran recalled.

She said the meeting re-sulted in Prouds being the first duty free and travel re-tail store to sell Friends Fiji Style range of products.

Since then the company has been carrying the range on its shelves. The ten-year partnership has now been further strengthened with a distribution agreement.

According to Ms Kiran, more and more health con-scious customers are reach-ing out to Friends Fiji Style range of products that are free from artificial preserva-tives and colours and Motib-hai Group having a strong customer reach blends in

well with their aim of tak-ing such healthy products closer to consumers.

She says the partnership will allow FRIEND to work in communities as Motibhai Groups strong distribution network will help expand markets for local gourmet products and a strong mar-ket presence will mean lo-cal farmers have a steady market for sustained in-come.

This will also freethe organizational time and re-sources for more focus on new products and develop-ment of enterprises in the communities as part of their ongoing poverty alleviation initiative, Ms Kiran said.

Motibhai Group Market-ing and Business Develop-ment Manager Abraham Gomes said they are de-lighted to be appointed as the distributor of Friends Fiji Style range of products which will now become part of their well estab-lished distribution network.

Our group with this new arrangement with FRIEND is now committed to fur-ther strengthen the mutual

business relationship, Mr Gomes said.

He said the group has been associated with Friends Fiji Style range of products from their humble beginnings and recognizes the good work they have been doing amongst the less fortunate.

Friends Fiji Style range of products will now form an integral part of our busi-ness and we expect the range of products to be-come a household name in time to come, Mr Gomes said.

Friends Fiji Style range includes a wide range of products which are 100% locally made assisting in livelihood improvements and income generation of hundreds of local farmers and producers. Handmade cards made by youths in-cluding people with disabil-ity are creative art pieces on recycle paper made from residue of yaqona (kava pa-per).

Their range of herbal teas include famous kava tea, traditional home rem-edies including layalaya,

cinnamon, lemon grass, rosella and basil (Tulsi). Local home tasting jams feature mango, guava and much loved marmalade. Pickles and chutneys utilize various fruits in season to offer customers tangy deli-cious mango, lime, chilli pickles, ambrella kuchla, chilli and famous tamarind chutney cooked in pure vir-gin coconut oil. Abundance of papaya and bananas are now available as dried fruits for snacks and the baking

range includes traditional seven grains - satwa, range of gluten free flours as well as local desiccated coco-nut, cassava flour, grated cassava and honey. All the products have emerged from FRIENDs economic empowerment programs in communities that include planning, financial literacy, utilizing local skills and re-sources to develop quality local goods for the market.

Motibhai Group Announces Distributorship of Friends Fiji Style Products

q PRESS RELEASE

Dr. Jone Vuli Hawea of FRIEND Fiji gifting a handmade card as token of appreciation to Motibhai Group Director Mr Rajesh Patel. Photo: SUPPLIED.



EDUCATION

Tanoa Hotels group de-velopment chef Saini-valati Tavaga (4th from left) and First Landing Resort executive chef Darren Braddock (6th from left) with cooking students of Fiji National University during the cooking competition launch at Namaka cam-pus. Photos: ANUSHIL KUMAR.

Imagine a world without a word, a world without conversation, a world void of language, a world an-nulled of speech. Imagine, prime language forming the basis of conversation. This scenario is not only compli-cated to comprehend, but rather impracticable. In this era of swift industrialization and technological enlarge-ment, language has fash-ioned the premise of prog-ress, of survival, of career advancement, of communi-cation. Thus, a lot of promi-nence is given to the two pertinent disciplines namely Language and Literature. All schools in Fiji through the Ministry of Education has continued in its pursuit to embark on the significance

of language and literature and ways in which these disciplines can be inclusive in their curriculum consider-ing Fijis diverse population.

As an intellectual, I ask the readers a question. What is one element that makes us distinct or unique from the person right next to you and truly defines us as human? The answer is our language. On the onset, language is our identity, it is our soul and our being, our existence as a person mark-ing our race and ethnic-ity, language is sustenance. Imagine a world without language. Language makes us distinct from animals. In Fijis context, language makes us a pluralistic na-tion. We are one people, one nation with multiple languages, and dialects. We speak languages such Eng-lish, the two widely spoken Vernaculars: i-Taukei and Fiji Hindi. Arent you proud to be a bilingual or multilin-gual? Bilingual is one who speaks two languages and in Fiji many of us are mul-tilingual meaning speaking more than two languages.

In addition, the Ministry of Education has made it man-datory through Fiji National Curriculum Framework to make the curriculum inclu-sive, meaning giving equal importance to English, the compulsory language and our two leading vernacu-lar languages: through their conversational Hindi and i-Taukei classes. So the next question is: Where to from now? How best can we

teach our three important languages?

First Language Acquisi-tion is from 0-5 years. By the time a child is five years old, s/he has fully acquired his or her mother tongue through listening, observation and imitation. The child is never taught the mother tongue. The child hears the parents and caregivers speak and they emulate the speakers. However, 2nd Language Acquisition is structured learning unlike the mother tongue. The child acquires the language in a formal set-ting, like the school, under the guidance of a Language Teacher. Though acquiring 2nd Language is life-long, one will still never be as proficient as in their mother tongue. Research show, if one is proficient in their mother tongue, he/she will be able to learn and mas-ter 2nd language with ease. Thus, we must begin to take pride in our mother tongue, and not being ashamed to speak in vernacular. Howev-er, in school children should continue to speak in English which is the medium of in-struction but never let go of your 1st language, which is your identity.

Back to the initial ques-tion. How best can language be taught? George Bernard Shaw, a playwright aptly said: he who has nothing to read has nothing to write. Simply, the more one reads, the better one becomes in both oral and written lan-guage. Also, do not take English, Hindi and i-Taukei

as subjects but appreciate it as a language. We need to change our mindset about it being a subject. It isnt. It is a language and there is no beauty greater than acquir-ing another language. So, why do we continue to ad-dress these as subjects? De-lete the word subject, and then you will begin falling in love with these languages, and proficiency will come automatically.

Added to that, we can also become better lan-guage speakers by begin-ning to love reading, reading anything and everything that interests the reader. While traveling to school, read the billboards, while in school, hop into the school library and grab a newspaper, read your favorite section. I am certain children love to read horoscope and sport section and movies, so be it. At least they are reading. We also have the tendency to read what is printed on other peoples shirts and tops, go for it. The more you read, the better you will become as speakers of language and ultimately your writing will improve.

What then is literature? Literature is the mirror im-age of life. Our life enfolds like literature, like each epi-sode in a series. Watching a movie is literature, our holy books are epic literature, reciting a poem is literature, drawing and art is literature, enacting a play is literature, humming a song is litera-ture, falling in love is litera-ture, breakup is literature,

anything and everything we do in life is literature. It is our imagination, our creativity: both visual and in written form. So, when one reads a book, a short story, a novel, a poem, the readers learn powerful messages, mes-sages relating to our life, our everyday living. Even while watching a movie it is a common practice of wip-ing off tears during intense and emotional scenes, for instance watching Pavitra Rishta. This is literature. It has the power to move our very being; self awaken us and makes us empathize with the reality of life. Only literature makes us truly hu-man.

Hence, literature can be taught to students through an integrated teaching, meaning, while reading a short story, facilitators or teachers in the class can kill two birds with one stone. Assign a child to read a para-graph, explain the content in detail, relate the story to everyday situation, highlight the themes, underline diffi-cult vocabulary, quickly look it up in the dictionary for its meaning and usage, make a sentence using the new word you have leant, also know its part of speech, and at the end of the read-ing, write your response to the story in no more than five lines. There you go: you have read, spoken in class, listened to someone read-ing it aloud in class and fi-nally, icing on the cake by practicing writing. So just in one class; all four skills

Beauty of Language and Literaturehave been practiced. Listen, Speak, Read and Write. Lan-guage and literature is not about teaching a subject, but practicing four essential lifelong skills and they are: Listen, Speak, Read and Write. Listen with patience, speak with endurance, read with love and write with pas-sion and one will never go wrong in life.

In summation, I am leav-ing the readers with a chal-lenge: begin to love lan-guage, adore the fact that we live in a country that has diverse ethnicity, giving us an opportunity to learn each others language. It is always a gratifying scene to see an i-Taukei child speaking flu-ent Fiji Hindi and the vise versa. Begin reading, take a first step toward making an effort to read, continue read-ing, begin writing, continue writing, take pride in your languages you learn and with Gods grace upon you, you all will outshine at the end of the year. My hats off to the Ministry of Education for embarking on the sig-nificance of creating aware-ness and individual schools taking the onus upon them-selves in organizing myriad activities, departmental weeks, extracurricular activ-ities and calling guest speak-ers who also contribute their thoughts on these pertinent issues and making Fiji a knowledge based society. In retrospect, together we can, we will and we must.

Manpreet KaurCo-Director

Foundation Studies Lecturer in Liguistics The University of Fiji

Saweni Campus

FNU Launches Cooking Competition

The Fiji National Uni-versity (FNU) launched the Schools Cooking Competition on Friday, July 10, at Namaka cam-pus in Nadi.

The theme for 2015 International Food Fes-tival (IFF) is Home Garden and Backyard Farming Food for All.

This is a unique cook-ing competition as par-ticipating students will be required to use 70-80% of produce from their school backyard in their cooking.

Competition co-co-ordinator Ateca Yavaca said the main objective of this cooking competi-tion is to exude the very core of the message to our community and that is to appreciate and eat homegrown vegetables, meat and marine re-sources.

Our local hotel and

resorts are going LO-CAL incorporating our local edible flora and fauna into menus and delectable cuisines, Ateca said.

The involvement of our local students dur-ing this festival is im-perative as they will be our Food Ambassadors in championing the im-portance of local foods to our societys well-ness and good health.

FNU is taking a leading role being a major sponsor in advo-cating for a healthy and wellness society.

She said FNU will be assisting schools by providing agriculture expertise to schools that will be participat-ing, and further agri-culture assistance will be provided through the provision of seeds of various chosen veg-etables free of charge.

The three-day cook-ing competition will be targeting various levels of the education sys-tem but with a slight

twist whereby schools need to grow and also utilize existing edible flora and fauna in their respective school com-pounds.

IFF chairlady Aqela Cakobau said the over-all points of a school or institution will be based on preparation, cultiva-tion, cooking and pre-sentation proper.

Part of the judg-ing criteria will include things like land prepara-tion, drainage, crop cul-tivation etc. This is all in-line with the promotion of backyard farming.

Primary, secondary and tertiary students from Sigatoka to Rakira-ki and the interior of the Western Division are ex-pected to participate, Aqela mentioned.

The 2nd FNU Interna-tional Food Festival will be held from October 10-17 at Namaka cam-pus in Nadi.

By ANUSHIL KUMAR

First Landing Resort executive chef Darren Braddock entertains the invited guests with cooking demonstra-tion during the cooking competition launch at FNU Namaka campus.



LOCAL NEWS

Ukraine-based Green Leaf Supply Solutions can build a house in one day.

Director Gleb Zhe-loudkov introduced about the building a house in one day con-cept to the guests who were present during the launch at Narewa, Nadi on Friday, July 3.

He said the idea came up when he and his business partner Slavik Ilnytsky realised the amount of time con-

sumed to build a house in Fiji.

Gleb said labour and supplies proved difficult at times.

These are unfolding houses that are assem-bled in a day and there is no labour and supply issues, he said.

We believe that heaps of properties are facing the same issues and afraid of building or still waiting in line for construction, and we believe that through this product concept, we can bring better ser-vices.

He said they can fit five of these houses in a

Building a House in One Day

40-foot container.Gleb mentioned the

aluminium steel struc-tures, which contains two bedrooms, one open-room and a bath-room, would be market-ed at $24,000 each

This is ideal for businesses wanting to build accommodation for staff or develop their premises such as small laundries.

It is multipurpose, saves time and mon-ey, and contains a full package with electric-ity, plumping, windows, doors and a shower.

The aluminium steel structured assembled house. Photo: SUPPLIED

By ANUSHIL KUMAR

LTA Announces New Board

Land Transport Au-thority (LTA) has an-nounced a new Chair-man and Board.

This is done to preside in the wake of the recent LTA inquiry and the re-moval of the previous Board.

Vijay Maharaj, a law-yer by profession, is the new Chairman and he is joined by four other Board members.

The four board mem-bers include the LTAs former General Manager of Operations, Aptinko Vaurasi, businessman

Ashok Patel, the Chief Financial Controller of Vodafone Fiji Lim-ited, Divik Deo, and the RFMF Land Force Com-mander, Colonel Sitiveni Qiliho.

The announcement was made by the Minis-ter for Infrastructure and Transport, Hon. Parveen Kumar.

Mr Kumar said he was delighted with the announcement as LTA now have a board ca-pable of presiding over the reform of the organ-isation.

Each of these dis-tinguished individu-als brings a particular set of skills to the table and I am confident that

the LTA is now in good hands.

I also want to thank them for their contribu-tion to the nation on behalf of every Fijian, Minister Kumar said.

The Permanent Sec-retary for Infrastructure and Transport is also a member of the LTA Board under the rel-evant legislation and the CEO is an ex-officio member.

The new board will take up a two-year term with immediate effect.

By ANUSHIL KUMAR

Samantha Back with Fiji Properties

Samantha Elbourne is the new Director of Sales for Sheraton & Westin Resorts Fiji based in its Sydney of-fice.

Shane Cunning, General Manager, Fiji Complex said they are pleased to have Sa-mantha back working for Fiji.

We are delighted to welcome Saman-tha back working for the Fiji properties and who else better to sell not only Sheraton and Westin Fiji resorts but also Fiji as a destina-tion than one of Fijis own, Shane said.

He said this role will be held by a Fiji Citi-

zen for the first time as it was previously held by expatriates based in Sydney.

This is something we are very proud of and shows that the Fiji properties are defiantly making its mark within Starwood as we see more and more Fiji-ans taking up key roles overseas.

It has been a five-year plan to get Saman-tha to where she is now and its our continuous goal to develop the local talent to senior management roles.

Samantha started her Starwood journey with Denarau Golf & Racquet Club in 2001.

She joined the sales team at the end of 2004 as a coordinator and was promoted to Busi-ness Development Ex-

ecutive in 2007. This growth within the Fiji properties shows Sa-manthas dedication and ambitions and with the help of Starwoods training programs Sa-mantha advanced within the company.

Samantha was again promoted to Business Development Manager to Four Points by Shera-ton Perth and moved to Australia in 2012 and has now completed a full circle returning to the Fiji properties based in Sydney.

She brings back many years of expe-rience and learnings from Perth and Star-wood is confident Sa-mantha will excel and fit perfectly back into the Sales & Marketing team.

By ANUSHIL KUMAR



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LOCAL NEWS

Plans are in the pipe-line to establish Fijis first National Helpline for women.

The Ministry for Wom-en, Children and Poverty Alleviation is working to-wards establishing this that will help address issues like domestic vio-lence.

Minister Rosy Ak-bar says the womens helpline and the Nation-al Child Helpline, that is proving to be a success, would work parallel.

The Ministry launched Fijis National Child Helpline in April this year in partnership with Medical Services Pacific, Vodafone, Digicel and Telecom Fiji Limited.

Plans are in the pipe-line to develop a similar helpline for the women, so that they can report cases and seek infor-mation and assistance

when dealing with cas-es of domestic violence.

There is a need for such a platform to be created. Once the helpline is in place, women can just pick up their phone and dial the toll free number to get advice, assistance of the professional counsel-lors.

The child helpline that was launched three months ago has to date received positive re-ports, well over 1800 calls were made by the children and parents, seeking for information and advice on child wel-fare issues, Minister Ak-bar said.

The Minister for Wom-en also reiterated on the need for a collaborative approach to address the issues of violence.

She said to battle do-mestic violence in Fiji requires a coordinated effort and partnership between Government Ministries and Depart-

ments, Non-Govern-ment Organizations and Faith Based Organ-isations along with the communities.

There is a need to understand the existing legislations and laws like Domestic Violence Decree, Child Welfare Decree which is in al-ready place. Its also important that commu-nities are made aware of the procedures to ac-cess legal services.

With this the Min-istry works in part-nership with existing stakeholders to provide information and training programs to stop vio-lence, Minister Akbar explained.

The Ministry also aims to intensify ef-forts to tackle issues like domestic violence and child abuse after a strengthened partner-ship with Fiji Police

The Ministry in co-operation with Fiji Po-lice and other agencies

First National Helpline for Women to be Established Soon

By ANUSHIL KUMAR

Minister for Women, Children and Poverty Alleviation, Hon. Rosy Akbar while meeting with the senior citizens of Chanel Home of Compassion in Tamavua, Suva. Photo: SUPPLIED.

have successfully de-clared 39 communities as violence free while 50 other communities are working towards the declaration phase.

There will be an evaluation of the Zero Tolerance Violence Free Community Campaign to further enhance the program.

She said a Memo-

randum of Understand-ing will be signed later this year between the Ministry and the Fiji Police which will en-sure greater urgency is placed when respond-ing to cases of domestic violence and to ensure that the No Drop Policy is complied with at all times.

Minister Akbar added

the Ministry is reaching out to women by edu-cating them on the re-porting procedures as more awareness would result into increased re-porting.

Ministry of Women, Children and Poverty Alle-viation in partnership with Fiji Womens Crisis Centre (FWCC) has embarked on Male Advocacy awareness programs throughout the country.

This is done in the ef-fort to eliminate violence against women and chil-dren.

Minister for Women, Children and Poverty Al-leviation, Hon. Rosy Ak-bar highlighted this while making a presentation in parliament on the Male Advocacy program.

Hon. Akbar said a col-laborative approach be-tween Government, Non-Government Organisations and the communities is re-quired to address the issue of Gender Violence.

She said the Ministrys Male Advocacy Program is a new program which be-gan this year.

It creates a need for a concerted effort in edu-cating communities, pro-viding them with appro-priate information and guidance on all aspects of life thereby, increasing a sense of responsibility

amongst every member of the community, including the women, children, men and youths.

The main objective of the program is capacity strengthening through gen-der sensitization training of the male members of the Gate Keepers Committees of those communities that have declared themselves violence free after under-going a 10-phased process of the Zero Tolerance Vio-lence Free Programme.

Minister Akbar said to build a pool of gender sen-sitized male community leaders in communities, towns, settlements and vil-lages who will be able to provide the right informa-tion to other men within their groups of influence.

And to build a pool of male leaders who can be further trained to provide initial counseling to male perpetrators of violence within their communities by utilizing the concept of buddy system.

The Gender Sensitiza-tion Training is also meant to build on the younger men to be more respon-sible also about their sex-ual behavior and therefore, being more responsible about gender issues, she explained.

Ministry Embarks on Male Advocacy Awareness

She also outlined the number of Male Advocacy Awareness programs that has been conducted so far.

The program at the moment consists of 3 days training for communities organized by Ministry of-ficials and the technical Gender Based Violence training is provided by the Fiji Womens Crisis Centre.

So far, there have been two trainings, one was held in Nadave earlier in June that trained 23 men from the central and east-ern divisions. The one in northern division was or-ganised for the gatekeep-ers from declared violence free communities repre-sented from the provinces of Cakaudrove, Bua and Macuata.

Theres another train-ing scheduled for the west-ern division from the July 27-30, 2015.

We believe that these programs will complement the Ministrys 10 phase program towards creating violence free communities in Fiji.

She said we intend to take these programs as far as we can to ensure that we expand our reach out to many more commu-nities to combat gender based violence.

By ANUSHIL KUMAR



SAMMA GLASS AND ALUMINIUM SUPPLEMENT

SAMMA Glass and Aluminium has a strong commitment to deliver quality glass and aluminium products for the commercial and residential markets. With abundant experience and knowledge in the industry and by investing in professional staff, we are able to offer innovative products and superior service to our customers in Fiji and the South Pacific.

Products :

STORMGUARD 13.8mm Shop front

Laminated Glass

Patterned glass

Tinted and Coloured glass

Toughened and Frameless Doors

Sliding Doors and Windows

Curtain Wall

Hinges and Locks

Aluminium profiles

Services :

Free on-site measure and quote

Quotes based on Project plans

Installation by our professional staff

Wholesale supplies to trade customers

Maintenance services

Meet our people :

Introducing

Our 13.8mm STORMGUARD glass is Fijis first cyclone rated glass compliant with AS/NZS 1170.2:2011, AS 4040.3 and AS/NZS 2208:1996, tested and certified by NATA approved Cyclone Testing Station.

SAMMA Commitment:

Provide quality products at affordable prices to assist our customers deliver successful projects

Service excellence through expert knowledge & experience in fabrication and glazing

Meeting customer demand and design trends by supplying a variety of Glass and Aluminium products.

CONTACT US Unit 4, 7 Kabani Road, Waimalika Nadi Phone: 6201 580 / 6728 580 / 7073 583 Asmit: 8377 538 / Bala: 9351 389 / Sam: 904 7593 Web: http://www.sammahws.com



SAMMA GLASS AND ALUMINIUM SUPPLEMENT

Samma Glass and Al-uminium has stamped their name in the glass industry in Fiji.

The newly built fac-tory, located in Waima-lika Nadi, was officially opened by the Minister for Local Government, Housing and Environ-ment, Infrastructure & Transport, Praveen Ku-mar.

Company director, Marcus Nand said they came into this market to fulfill their three basic goals; ; quality products, good service and meet-ing customer demands .

He said the company has certified cyclone-rated glass made to Aus-tralian and New Zealand standards.

Mr Nand said their list of glass products include coloured, patterned, float, toughened and laminated glass. The Al-uminium stock includes anodised bronze and silver and alternatives of powder-coated wood grain or single colours, while hardware extends

to door handles, locks, hinges and sealants.

The Jet managed to talk to the director Mar-cus Nand after the facto-ry was officially opened.

1) What was the pro-cess involved in start-ing up this business?

The project started three years ago. Initially we talked about what can be the driving fac-tor and the driving fac-tor is basically three things; quality products, good service and meet-ing customer demands. These three things seem to be missing with busi-nesses in Fiji. So we want to address these three things in this par-ticular industry.

2) Why did you choose glass and alu-minium specialized business?

I can see there is a void in this market from the supply point of view. There was influ-ence from my brother Sam Nand and nephew Karnesh Bala saying there is a lack of ser-vice and supply in this market. Because of the background and experi-ence of these guys, we decided that this is the industry we want to deal

with.3) Can you elaborate

on the products you have in your company and where do you get it from?

All the products we have are from China and all our laminated glass is to Australian, New Zea-land safety standards ( A S / N Z 1 1 7 0 . 2 : 2 0 1 1 , AS4040.3 and AS/NZ2208:1996). It is also supplied to Australian market and so it has to be of good quality, which it is. We thought if we bring the same glass to Fiji and provide that same level of quality and support, it should be a success here. This prod-uct is the first in 13.8mm with Australian and New Zealand standard AS1170.2:2011 for Fiji region for both impact and wind-load tests. These shop-front glass-es are uniquely compli-ant for the Fiji region and approved by a NA-TA-accredited cyclone testing station, with cur-rent AS1170.2:2011 and AS4040.3 standards.

4) Can you tell us about the investments made?

Well there is a lot of personal time invest-

ment into this and in monetary terms, our current investment is just over half a million Fijian dollars and with all the stock coming in which is on its way, I say it could be reach about one million Fijian dol-lars.

5) How you planning to get your name out in public?

As I said, Im vouch-ing for three things; quality products, good service and meeting customer demands and I think if we deal with those things correctly,

we will automatically have word of mouth spread all over the place and we will have a good name in the market.

6) Fiji being hit by cy-clones in recent years, are you confident that this product would bring something to the market?

Absolutely. Our STORMGUARD glass is based on the current 2011 standards and I believe this product is superior to any product available in the market for 13.8mm. It is the only glass rated to the current

2011 standard for Fiji re-gion and as I said, it is approved by a NATA-ac-credited cyclone testing station. Our competitors are still supplying NON-Compliant glass which is based on outdated 2006 standards.

7) Any message to the customers who are looking forward to ac-cess your services?

Even though we are a new company, if you give us a go, we can as-sure you, our customers a pleasant experience.

New Glass Investor in MarketBy ANUSHIL KUMAR



TOURISM

Fiji has been ranked as a top dream desti-nation by independent travellers of a survey conducted by the lead-ing travel industry lux-ury network, Virtuoso, which is representing over 26 countries and has over 9,000 travel ad-visors.

Virtuoso has been conducting a Travel Dreams survey for the past nine years, where some of the worlds wealthiest travellers share their bucket list of travel destinations and activities.

5,800 Virtuoso travel-lers took part in its 2015 Travel Dreams survey and Fiji made the list of the Top 10 Dream Desti-nations. The list also in-cludes destinations like Australia, New Zealand, Italy, France, Greece, Ireland, the Caribbean, England and the Antarc-tica.

According to Virtuoso, the breath-taking sea life and luxurious accom-modations of Fiji drive it onto the Top 10 list year after year. Tourism Fiji Executive Chairman, Mr Truman Bradley wel-comed the announce-ment by Virtuoso as it places Fiji amongst the best travel destinations in the world.

The results of the Virtuoso survey gives us a good insight into the kind of destinations

luxury travellers want to visit and we at Tour-ism Fiji are glad that the Fiji brand is top of mind for these affluent travel-lers, Mr Bradley says.

Fiji is the only South Pacific Island destina-tion on the list this year, which is reflective of the innovative marketing strategies and tactical campaigns which Tour-ism Fiji has been imple-menting in our key mar-kets, Mr Bradley adds.

The results of Virtuo-sos annual survey was published in the July issue of Virtuoso Life a flagship magazine which provides savvy travellers on where to go next, showcasing the best hotels, cruises, tours, and experiences around the world.

Other factors sur-veyed, pinpointing their top 10 travel pursuits, the travellers rated cul-tural/historical as most important (42%), cruis-ing came in a close sec-ond (40%), followed by adventure/nature (37%), beach 31%, family (25%), food & wine (24%), river cruising (22%), city get-aways (19%), relaxation/spa (16%), and romance (15%).

Fiji, A Virtuoso Dream Destination

q PRESS RELEASE

Good News for Wine LoversMotibhai Group

which distributes multi award-winning brand - Lindemans has teamed up with partici-pating supermarkets to offer Lindemans Premier Selection Chardonnay and Lin-demans Premier Se-lection Shiraz Cabernet for only $19.95 each.

Lindemans Premier Selection Chardonnay / Lindemans Premier Selection Shiraz Cab-ernet

The Premier Selec-tion Chardonnay and Shiraz Cabernet makes the most of Linde-mans winemaking experience and exten-sive vineyard holdings across Australia. By sourcing fruits from a number of regions, Lin-demans winemakers have been able to craft wines that are consis-tently of outstanding quality regardless of varying vintage condi-

tions. Lindemans Premier

Selection Chardonnay (100% Chardonnay)

A light to medium straw green edges. This wine displays aroma of peach and nectarine with fragrant highlights and softly spiced oak.

Lindemans Premier Selection Shiraz Caber-net (Shiraz 60%, Caber-net Sauvignon 40%)

Brilliant ruby red co-lour. The nose consists of bright red berries and subtle spicy pepper and as elegant, medium bodied wine with soft tannins juicy acidity and a lengthy finish.

Food and Wine are best buddies

Food and wine go to-gether because of the complements and con-trasts they offer to each other. Food tastes bet-ter with wine because wine offers another set of aromas, flavours, and textures that act as a foil

to the aromas, flavours, and textures of the food being eaten. Think of the first bite you take of a slice of Roast Lamb.

With that first bite you smell the rich aromas, taste the full flavour of the meat, and experi-ence the full range of tactile sensations in your mouth. While the second bite is good, it cant be as good as the first because your nose and mouth are already used to the sensations the roast lamb provides.

The senses of taste and smell are easily fa-tigued. The way to re-fresh them is to offer an alternative set of aromas, flavours, and sensations. A drink of wine does just that. This is the most basic way in which food and wine go together.

Many people are con-tent to say that if the food and wine are both good, then the match is

good. They are right but only in that the match is good; it isnt excellent, outstanding, sublime, or heavenly. These levels of enjoyment and ap-preciation only can be reached when the wine does more than act as a contrast to the food. In the best matches, the wine compliments the food at the same time as it offers a contrast.

Lindemans special offer which will be valid until Friday, July 31 has already had wine lovers beaming with joy.

q PRESS RELEASE

Shiwashna Lata of Shop N Save Namaka serves cus-tomer Niraj Dutt. Photo: SHALENDRA PRASAD.



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LOCAL NEWS

$20k Boost for New ClassroomAndrews Primary

School will now have a new classroom for Urdu classes following a $20,000 timely donation by New India Assurance Company Ltd.

New India Assurance Company manager Lau-toka Branch, Devendra Prakash Saxena pre-sented the cheque to the school on Monday, July 13, following the ground-breaking ceremony of

the proposed class-room.

Head Teacher Anasa Vateitei said the dona-tion was a timely one as the demand for the Urdu curriculum has greatly increased due to the increase in the num-ber of Muslim students in school.

In the past years of its existence in this school, Urdu students have been using the basement storeroom near the canteen, Mr Vateitei said.

Im thankful that they

were able to survive the unfriendly classroom environment during these past years.

We have with us a very important team from our major sponsor New India Assurance Company to bless us with their offer to fund the new classroom for our Urdu students.

He thanked the com-pany for the funding.

New India Assurance managing director Go-palan Srinivasan said they were pleased to assist the school for the benefit of the students.

New Indias pres-ence in Fiji dates back to 1954, he mentioned.

And many general insurance companies in Fiji have come and gone but New India have attained strength by strength serving Fiji and its people through thick and thin, in their good and bad years.

By ANUSHIL KUMAR

New India Assurance Company manager Lautoka Branch, De-vendra Prakash Saxena and school board members lays the foundation of the new urdu classroom.. Photo: SUPPLIED.



TOURISM

Fijis International Air-line, Fiji Airways has been granted permission to of-fer air services in Tonga.

This was confirmed af-ter the terms of an agree-ment between the Fijian and Tongan Governments was signed.

A Memorandum of Understanding opening up the Tongan market to the national airline was signed between the Attor-ney-General and Minister for Civil Aviation, Hon Ai-yaz Sayed-Khaiyum, and the visiting Tongan Minis-ter for Civil Aviation, Hon Etuate Sungalu Lavulavu.

Fiji Airways has already been operating a flight within Tonga between the capital, Nukualofa, and the island of Vavau, however, this service was based on a charter ba-sis to the Tongan airline, Real Tonga.

The new agreement

allows for this flight to be now designated as a Fiji Airways service with a Fiji Airways flight number.

This also opens up the possibility of the Fijian national airline operating services to other Tongan destinations and beyond.

The Attorney General said it was a timely agree-ment between Fiji and Tonga as it is expected to benefit both Pacific Island countries.

I would like to thank the Tongan government for their forward looking aspects to this where we both can be able to mutu-ally assist each and ben-efit from the services that will be provided.

The Tongan Govern-ment has asked Fiji Air-ways not only to fly do-mestic routes but also examine the feasibility of operating services be-tween Tonga and Samoa, Niue and the Cook Is-lands.

Fiji Airways has agreed to assess the Tongan request and will

make a commercial deci-sion in the near future, the AG said.

According to the Tonga Minister for Civil Aviation Hon. Etuate Lavulavu, Tonga was really in need for airline services.

At this point, we really need help from Fiji espe-cially the domestic airline is not reliable at the mo-ment in Tonga so we are looking for Fiji Airways to help, he said.

He thanked the Fijian Government for making the agreement possible.

He said the Tongan Government looked for-ward to a fruitful relation-ship with Fiji Airways.

Fiji Airways to Fly Tongan Routes By ANUSHIL KUMAR

FTE Dates Confirmed for 2016

The dates of the Fijian Tourism Expo (FTE) are confirmed to be held from May 3-6, 2016.

FTE is a uniquely Fi-jian tourism experience for international buyers of tourism product. It is a showcase for all that the tourism industry in Fiji has to offer.

Truman Bradley, Ex-ecutive Chairman for Tourism Fiji said the feedback from interna-tional buyers and part-ners in the tourism in-dustry from this years expo have been fantas-tic.

FTE is a solid plat-

form for encouraging meaningful interactions between buyers from our key markets and further developing our industry to meet inter-national traveller de-mands. It is an avenue to strengthen existing partnerships and forge new business relation-ships.

FTE has grown by 30% with over 600 par-ticipants taking part at the expo over three days with only in its second year.

A record 358 local tourism operators had the opportunity to sell their products to more 150 international buy-ers and 18 international media.

By IVA DANFORD - NAISARA

This year FTEs fo-cus was Community and Tourism, which was evident through the culmination of the vari-ous events which were held over the three-day period, illustrating the support from corporate sponsors which enabled innovative displays such as the moving cul-tural performance at the opening ceremony coordinated by Pacific Destinations, the Vic-toria Wines Food and Wine Festival, the Fijian-Made Craft Market and the FTE Coffee Lounge by Fiji Coffee who do-nated all proceeds from their booth to the Fiji Cancer Society.

Truman Bradley, Executive Chairman for Tourism Fiji making his openning remarks at the 2015 FTE. Photo:SUPPLIED.

Attorney-General and Minis-ter for Civil Aviation, Hon Ai-yaz Sayed-Khaiyum and the visiting Tongan Minister for Civil Aviation, Hon Etuate Sungalu Lavulavu duing the signing of Memorandum of Understanding. Photos: SUPPLIED.



BUSINESS NEWS

As the real estate mar-ket continues to grow in the market, a local realtor has taken a step further to promote local properties abroad.

Praneel Dass, man-aging director of Ingle-wood Realtors, recently made a business trip to New Zealand marketing Fijian properties on its availability and how one could own it.

Besides residential, commercial and beach-front properties, Mr Dass said the local Fiji resi-dents living abroad has shown more interest in the agricultural farm land.

The Jet got an oppor-tunity to talk to Mr Dass more about his recent business trip.

1) Promoting lo-cal properties abroad, how had your recent New Zealand tour been?

The tour was great

as I was able to meet a lot of local Fijians who are now based in New Zealand. The radio talk show was really good with my TV ads and many more.

2) Do you see potential abroad? In which areas?

I see a lot of poten-tial abroad, even after migrating people still wants to invest in Fiji.

3) What is your target market?

Local Fiji residents liv-ing abroad

4) Some of the challenges you face both locally and abroad?

Stronger laws are needed to protect both the real estate agent or realtor and the client. The people must have confidence in the indus-try players and at the same time both parties must be protected by strong laws in place.

Another important point that needs to be stressed is that real es-tate agents work on commission mostly

Realtor Promotes Fijian Properties Abroad

and that means that we need to be able to make a sale to get our com-mission. Making a sale includes a great deal of work. Sometimes after all the hard work in set-ting up a sale, the sale does not go through for some reason. Nobody pays the real estate agent at this point so it is a challenging situation.

Sometimes after po-tential clients sign a contract agreeing to sell their property, they may break the contract at some point and this leads to a lot of frustra-tion on both ends. It is very important that potential clients under-stand the contract very clearly before signing up to sell a property.

It is best for a poten-tial client to fully un-derstand the contract before putting pen to paper.

5) Besides your recent New Zealand tour, you have already made business trips to countries like USA, Dubai, Australia and

Vanutu. Looking for-ward to make more business trips abroad?

Yes, I am looking for-ward to make more trips where our local people are residing and am also looking at overseas in-vestors to invest here in Fiji.

I am looking forward to make my next mar-keting trip to UK.

6) Any further comments.

We just need good properties as we got large clients who are willing to buy from us.

By ANUSHIL KUMAR

Samantha Elbourne. Photo:SUPPLIED

Fijian consumers will be paying less for LPG and Auto Gas, but the price of fuel is on the rise.

Both changes are due to international mar-ket forces beyond our control, said Acting Min-ister for Industry, Trade and Tourism, Hon. Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum.

The cost of LNG on the international market has fallen, leading the Fiji Commerce Commission to extend the trend of de-clines in the price of LNG for the third quarter.

However, high de-mand and stagnant sup-ply of fuel, and higher rates for shipping, have led to increased interna-tional costs. The global market price of fuel is di-rectly related to the price at the pump, and that increase will be passed along to Fijians for the third quarter.

Both changes were ef-fective from July, 18.

The reductions of the LPG/Auto Gas prices are as follows:

4.5 kilogram cylinder is reduced by 5 cents from $13.45 to $13.40;

12 kilogram cylinder is reduced by 14 cents from $35.87 to $35.78;

Bulk LPG is reduced by 1 cent from $2.41 to $2.40; and

Auto Gas by is reduced by 4 cents from $1.70 to $1.66.

The increase in Fuel prices are as follows:

Motor Spirit is increased by 31 cents from $1.90 to $2.21;

Premix is in-creased by 24 cents from $1.85 to $2.09;

Kerosene is in-creased by 9 cents from $1.27 to $1.36; and

Diesel is in-creased by 12 cents

from $1.67 to $1.79.As we have stated in

the past, Fiji is a price taker and we have no control over what hap-pens in the international marketplace.

The Government en-courages all Fijians to conserve energy, use the fuel wisely and plan accordingly to adjust to the changes in fuel prices.

Changes to the Fuel and LPG Prices

q PRESS RELEASE

Managing Director Praneel Dass. Photo:SUPPLIED.



BUSINESS NOTICE BOARD

vep



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The Prime Ministers Ex-porter of the Year Awards has provided the en-couragement needed to achieve maximum growth and success, says Minis-ter for Industry, Trade and Tourism Hon. Faiyaz Koya.

Launching the awards on Friday, July 3, Minister Koya said in its 22 years history, the Prime Minis-ters Exporter of the Year awards had led the export-ers towards innovation, creation and enthusiasm to reach new markets and improve products.

The Exporters of the Year Awards is not just a celebration for achieve-ment, it is a symbol of the dynamism and boldness that has taken hold in our business community, he said to the captains of in-dustries gathered for the launch.

Minister Koya com-mended the theme of this years awards Partnering for Global Success as it fits well with Fijis public-private partnership that has elevated the country in both regional and interna-tional trade.

He said while the ex-porters have the ideas and the drive to export, to find markets, it is Governments job to create a conducive environment to facilitate business growth.

The fact that Government has done just that can be attributed to the unprece-dented growth experienced by the Fijian economy in the past six years, Minister Koya highlighted.

He said it was projected that the Fijian economy will grow by 4.3 per cent and for-eign reserves are at a strong position as it stands at $1.997 billion which was sufficient to cover five months of im-ports of goods and non-fac-tor services.

Similarly for exports, the trade minister said it had ris-en by 11.5 per cent in 2014 or $2.1b and this is expected to grow further in 2015.

The conditions are per-fect for our exporters to in-vest, reinvest, expand and

diversify further and take advantage of the various manufacturing and export incentives provided by the Government, Mr Koya said.

Westpac Bank is the ma-jor sponsor and contributed $100,000 to the awards that will be presented to 12 of Fijis foremost exporters in various categories.

The awards will be ad-ministered by Investment Fiji and also present during the launch were Investment Fiji chairman, Truman Brad-ley and chief executive offi-cer, Mr Godo Muller-Teut as well as Ministry of Industry, Trade and Tourism perma-nent secretary Mr Shaheen Ali.

Minister Koya Launches Exporter Awards

q DEPTFO

Minister for Industry, Trade and Tourism Hon. Faiyaz Koya.



LOCAL SPORTS

Referees Development Blooming in Nadi

The Nadi Referees Association is currently running a development program to train and produce quality refer-ees in Nadi.

Association president Andrew Achari said se-rious development is taking place in Nadi.

He said he is proud to see young talents com-ing up to take part in the development program.

We are looking into bringing new people into refereeing because the ones who have been doing this are about twenty years in refereeing now, Achari said.

We are getting some school boys, thanks to Mr Sunil Narayan for

running the refeering club at Sangam SKM College.

And out of that club in SSKMC, we are slow-ing fitting the Nadi refer-ees Association.

Fiji FA referees direc-tor Rajendra Sharma said he is pleasantly sur-prised to see the num-ber of young-trained referees turning up to

officiate games in Nadi. This is the stepping

stone, he said. This is where we

find and train referees who then goes on to of-ficiate at national levels.

For some time, Nadi did not have any devel-opment program and looks like this year they are doing very well.

By ANUSHIL KUMAR

Cricket Fiji Women Defeat Vanuatu to Claim Bronze

A big hitting Fijian line-up have beaten Vanuatu in the play-off for bronze just a day after going down to them in the final pool game of the Pacific Games.

Cricket Fiji went in to bat first in the do or die match, but struggled early with a top order col-lapse leaving them 7-57 in the 13th over.

Enter Cricket Fijis not so secret weapon Ruci Mariyalo, the top ranked bowler and equal top ranked batter in the Pa-cific Games.

By the time Mariyalo

had been caught in the final over, Fiji had raced to 8-118, with Mariyalo smashing an almost un-believable seven 6s and four 4s.

The innings left her on 72 off just 36 balls, and an early jubilant Vanuatu in the nervous position of having to chase down 118 in the last innings of the tournament.

Vanuatu started strong-ly and seemingly had the game in their grasp as an innings of 43 from An-drew, 15 from Chilia and 15 from Tarimiala had them cruising to victory at

86-3 in just the 11th over. However Ruci Mari-

yalo having recovered from her big innings was brought into the bowling attack, taking three quick wickets and leaving the Vanuatu squad in trouble, entering the last over 105-9.

Despite having every chance to win the game, the final run-out of Vanu-atus Chilia by 16 year old Fijian Waqavakatoga gave Fiji the win, secur-ing the Bronze medal and sending the Fijian Cricket community into celebra-tions.

The Gold medal match proved equally as thrill-ing as an unbeaten PNG Lewas took on Samoa infront of a home crowd, a team they had cruised to victory over in the pool game. Samoa batted first, but after some strong bowling by PNG found themselves on 103 at the end of the twenty overs. PNG kept on target, but lost too many wickets, finishing their 20 over just 3 runs short.

Weve Always Done More with Less, says PM

Team Cricket Fiji after winning the bronze medal at the Pacific Games in PNG. Photo: SUPPLIED.

Over the years, weve always done more with less. Weve always punched above our weight. And the proof of that is the fact that our Sevens team are the current world champi-ons and will represent us for the first time at the Olympic Games in Rio De Janeiro next year.

Prime Minister Voreqe Bainimarama made these comments dur-ing the Fiji Rugby Lunch for Maori All Blacks at Grand Pacific Hotel in Suva on Friday, July 10.

However, he said we need to do more with more.

We need to keep punching as hard as we can to maintain our place in world rugby, said the PM.

So I appeal to all of you who can afford it to dig deeper. To tie your corporate fortunes to our nations fortunes on the rugby field.

To give your name an honoured place in Fijian rugby. To ride the wave of enthusiasm among our people for the game we all love and play so well.

Spread the word among the business community in Fiji. Your country needs

you to keep Fijian rugby healthy.

Mr Bainimarama said to assist the private sec-tor to assist our national rugby team in their prep-arations for the World Cup, his Government on Thursday, July 9, ap-proved amendments to the Income Tax Act to give sponsors of the na-tional team a 150 per cent tax rebate.

Meanwhile, the Prime Minister said he was very glad to be able to draw attention to the important nature of the Fiji versus Maori All Blacks gather-ing for Fijian rugby.

It is a fundraising lun-cheon and I want to thank the various corporate bodies and individuals for giving it your support.

We very much appre-ciate the efforts you are all making to support the game in Fiji.

But, he said, the truth is that we need to raise a lot more money to keep rugby strong and, espe-cially, to maintain and im-prove the high standard we need to meet in the 21st century to stay inter-nationally competitive.

Maori All Blacks nar-rowly escaped with a 27-26 win over the Flying Fijians in a fun-filled ex-citing encounter at ANZ Stadium in Suva.

By ANUSHIL KUMAR

Fiji FA referees director Rajendra Sharma (sitting 3rd from left) with the members of Nadi Referees Association. Photo: ANUSHIL KUMAR.

Champs Rewa to Face Tough Battle in BOG

q PRESS RELEASE

Inkk Battle of Gi-ants (BOG) defending champions Rewa will face an uphill battle as they meet 4R Electric Ba in their first match at home 7.30pm on Friday, July 31.

Last years runner-up Lautoka kick-starts the tournament meeting minnows Tailevu Naita-siri in the opener at 1pm before National League champions Nadi battles league runner-up Suva at 3pm.

2015 Fiji Factt cham-pions Labasa meets Nadroga straight after the official opening at 5pm.

Day 2 and 3 fixtures are as follows:

Day 2- Saturday Au-

gust 01: 1pm- Nadroga vs Ba, 3pm- Tailevu Nai-tasiri vs Suva, 5pm- Nadi vs Lautoka, 7pm- Rewa vs Labasa.

Day 3- Sunday Au-gust 02: 11.30am- Tai-

levu Naitasiri vs Nadi, 1.30pm- Rewa vs Nad-roga, 3.30pm- Suva vs Lautoka, 5.30pm- Ba vs Labasa.

By ANUSHIL KUMAR

Action from the 2014 Inkk Battle of Giants between Rewa and Labasa . Photo SUPPLIED



LOCAL SPORTS

More Fijian Teams to Feature in Coral Coast Sevens

The 2015 Bayleys Fiji Coral Coast Sevens will see more Fijian teams participating than ever.

Qualification chanc-es for Fijian teams got high after the success-ful Great Eight qualifi-cation tournament was expanded to a series of four qualifying events.

These tournaments, with each accommodat-ing up to 24 teams, will be held in Ra, Draiba, Nadi and Labasa in Au-gust and September re-spectively.

Almost 100 clubs from all corners of Fiji will have the opportunity to win their way to Lawaqa Park and challenge for the $30,000 first prize

from October 29-31.Tournament found-

ing chairman Jay Whyte said the Fijian teams should make the most of this opportunity given to feature in the sixth edition of the tourna-ment.

We are delighted to give more Fijian teams the opportunity to be-come part of the Bayleys Fiji Coral Coast Sevens, said Jay Whyte.

The Qualifying Series will support the growth of the game as bringing the tournament to dif-ferent locations means each host club gets to share in the success of the Coral Coast Sevens.

With the winners gaining a direct entry to the Coral Coast Sevens, it also gives players and teams a competitive ad-vantage for the Road to

By ANUSHIL KUMAR

Rio.The Qualifying Series

tournaments are hosted by the top finishers of last years Bayleys Fiji Coral Coast Sevens, Ulu-inakau, Yamacia, West-field Dragons and War-dens.

Ra Sports ground will host the first qualifying series from August 14-15 with Draiba hosting the second qualifiers the following week from August 19-20.

Third qualifiers will be played at Prince Charles Park from August 28-29 before Labasa host the fourth tournament from September 11-12 at Sub-rail Park.

The Bayleys Fiji Coral Coast Sevens features 16 mens and 16 wom-ens teams and partici-pating teams will be an-nounced in due course.

Nadro Ends Nadis Unbeaten Run

The BLK Nadroga rugby side shattered Jacks Nadi ending their seven rounds of unbeaten run in the Skipper Cup Competi-tion at Prince Charles Park on Saturday, July 11.

The Stallions bounced back to win-ning ways and downed

Jetsetters 17-15 after trailing to Naitasiri 17-18 in round six.

With over 12,000 fans packing the pavil-ion and embankment, the game lived up to expectations as every-one enjoyed every bits of the mouth-watering clash.

Nadi manager Jeff Tamata said some de-cision making contrib-uted to their loss.

He also congratulat-ed Nadroga for the win.

By ANUSHIL KUMAR

Actions from the Nadi versus Nadroga Skipper Cup challenge at Prince Charles Park. Photos: ANUSHIL KUMAR.

Blazing BanuveAs the popular say-

ing goes in Fiji, Fly like a Fiji, Banuve Tabakau-coro showed what it really means.

And he is still the fastest man in the Pacific.

The Bau, Tailevu-lad Banuve blazed the track in Port Moresby to win his first gold medal in the 2015 Pa-cific Games clocking 10.55 seconds in the blue-ribbon event.

He finished first ahead of Rodman Tetull of Palau who

clocked 10.98 seconds to win silver while Kupun Wi-sil settled for bronze with a time of 11.04 seconds And a day later, he broke his own record in the 200meter fi-nal. Banuve clocked 20.53 seconds, breaking his own old record of 21.13 seconds claiming his second gold medal in PNG.

Banuve told Times Sport he was happy with his per-formance.

I am happy with my per-formance.

I stumbled at the start a little bit but that is something that can be worked on, Ta-bakaucoro said.

By ANUSHIL KUMAR

Banuve Tabakaucoro hoisting the Fiji Flag. Photo: GOOGLE.

q CONTINUED FROM PAGE 24

The players have made us proud. First it was our Under-20 team and now its the Under-23 side who has qualified to the Olympic Games.

Patel added this is result of Fiji FAs develop-ment works.

This is what we have been telling our soc-cer fans. This is the result of the development works that were carried out. This is the future of Fiji football and critics can say what they want but the results are showing and this is what we have been talking about.

He assured the team would be rewarded for the historic qualification.

He thanked the players and team officials for their hard work and commitment to the task.

Vodafone Fiji U23 in action. Photos: ANUSHIL KUMAR.



The 20 member Vodafone Fiji Under 17 side for the Oceania Football Confederation Championship (OFC) in Samoa. Photo. Antonio Kitione.

JULY 2015. ISSUE 69 www.thejetnewspaper.com 50 CENTS

Page 22 Page 23

The Vodafone Fiji under-23 side has confirmed their flight to Rio Olympics next year.

And it is yet another milestone achievement for Fiji as they continue the history in the making trend.

Just a month ago, the national un-der-20 side made the FIFA U20 World Cup debut with a historic outing in New Zealand, and now its time for the Olym-pians to prove themselves in Brazil.

The Carlos Buzzetti-coached side outclassed Pacific rivals Vanuatu 4-3 in a nail-biting Oce

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