C.V

EDUCATION

Master of Agricultural Development Economics [1977-79] – Australian National University, Canberra
Thesis title: “Fiji’s Food Self-Sufficiency Policy with Special Reference to Rice Production.”

Bachelor of Agricultural Science [1967-1972] – Massey University, New Zealand

 

 

EMPLOYMENT HISTORY

Consultant [6 Dec 2006 - Present]

• Consultancy: Co-Facilitator and presenter: PIPSO’s Pacific Islands Business Forum on “Advancing the Pacific: Regional Collaborations and Opportunities”, 8-9 December 2010, Fiji
• Pacific Correspondent for CTA’s web portal Agritrade – standing provision with effect from August 2010
• Consultancy: Facilitator for PIFS’ ‘Non-State Actors Dialogue on Engaging with NSAs on PACER Plus’, Honiara, Solomon Islands, 18 October 2010
• Consultancy: PLP’s ‘Pacific Leadership Development Organizations Scoping Study”, June-October 2010
• Consultancy: Facilitator and Rapporteur, PIFS “Private Sector Dialogue – Improving Access to Finance for the Pacific Private Sector” under the Cairns Compact, 4 August 2010,  Port Vila, Vanuatu,
• Consultancy: Facilitator and Rapporteur, PIPSO-PACREIP-EU workshop on “Strengthening Pacific Islands Private Sector to meet Global Opportunities”, 23-25 June 2010, Fiji
• Consultancy: Member of a 3-person team to review and finalize the share ownership and structure of the Kadavu Development Company, Kadavu Holdings Limited, June-September 2010
• Consultancy: Facilitator for Workshop on ‘Trade Agreements for Regional Economic Integration’ as part of  the 12^th FAO Roundtable Meeting for PICs on WTO and Regional Trade Agreements and Provisions, Wellington, NZ, 22 September 2009.
• Consultancy: Facilitator for the PIPSO “Regional PACER Plus Awareness Workshop”, Nadi, Fiji, 25 June 2009.
• Consultancy: “PIPSO-PIFS Relations” – by PIPSO/Pacific Leadership Programme, March 2009
• Consultancy: Third Party Evaluator (TPE) under a TPE contract with Ernst & Young SN Global Solution Co Ltd, Japan, to provide opinion on an ODA Fiji Project Evaluated in Fiscal Year 2007, 14 December 2008
• Consultancy: PIPSO’s ‘National Private Sector Organization (NPSO) Survey’ by PIPSO/Pacific Leadership Programme- August 2008 – October 2009.
• Consultancy: Technical Assistance for Coordination of the Private Sector Enabling Environment Facility (PSEEF)’s ‘Private Sector Development Activities in Fiji’ by BizClim – May 2008 – continuing to Phase 2
• Consultancy: Pacific Islands Private Sector Organization (PIPSO)’s “Resource Mobilisation Document & Programme Profiles” – and related work by PIPSO/PACREIP – May 2008 – June 2009.
• Consultancy: as Senior Trade Adviser (EPA Negotiations) with PIFS, focusing on TSA and TMNP, June 2007.
• Member of a 3-person AusAID team, under the Pacific Land Program, produced a report on Fiji’s NLTB as a  case study: May 2007
  • This included having to participate in subsequent Peer Review meetings, e.g. in Canberra (March 2008)
• Member of a 2-person PIFS Task Force to review RAMSI: April 2007
  • This included having to submit and defend the report at the Forum Leaders Meeting in Tonga (October 2007), the Enhanced Consultative Mechanism and the Forum Ministerial Standing Committee meetings in the Solomon Islands (February 2008)
• 1-person PIFS  team to Review Nauru Government Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade and Membership of International and Regional Organizations: April 2007

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• Presentation: “The Pacific – Aid and Integration”, under ANU’s ‘Doubling Australian Aid’ Conference, ANU, Canberra, 7 February 2011
• Presentations: (i) “The Relevance of the Paris Declaration to Pacific CSOs” (ii) “What might Pacific Governments expect from Pacific CSOs  and what Accountability Mechanisms should CSOs consider” (iii) “Trade Justice and PACER Plus”: Pacific Regional Consultation for the Open Forum on CSO Development Effectiveness by PIANGO, 5-7 May 2010, Nuku’alofa,   Tonga.
• Presentation: “Strengthening High Impact Leadership Development Organizations: Influencing Government Decisions – The government perspectives”- Pacific Leadership Programme (PLP) Inaugural Convention, 20-22 April 2010, Clear Mountain Lodge, Brisbane, Australia.
• Presentation: “PACER Plus in the context of Fiji and the Pacific – Facing Tomorrow Today”- FABC/AFBC Forum 2009, 30 November 2009, Intercontinental Hotel, Natadola, Fiji.
• Paper: “PACER Plus – Introduction and Overview” presented to the Fiji-Australia Business Council (FABC), Suva, 4 September 2009
• Paper: “The Case of Launching PACER Plus and the Predicament of the Fiji Situation in the Context of Pacific Regionalism”, Pacific Wave Conference: Weathering the Economic Storm, Auckland, NZ, 3-4 June 2009, by Pacific Cooperation Foundation & Brother International (NZ) Limited.
• Chair’s Report: “Moving Forward on PACER Plus” – Fourth Officials’ Informal Meeting, 13-15 May 2009, Port Vila, Vanuatu, by NZ and Vanuatu Governments. I then presented all the Chairs’ Reports of the Informal Consultations to the Forum Trade Officials Meeting in Apia, Samoa on 11-12 June 2009. Prior to this, I presented to the Informal Forum Trade Ministerial Meeting in Auckland, 8-10 May 2009.
• Chair’s Report: “Moving Forward on PACER Plus” – Third Officials’ Informal Meeting, 16-18 February 2009, Adelaide, Australia, by the Australian Government
• Paper: “Engagement of Non-State Actors in PACER Plus” presented at the Regional Trade Officials’ Informal Meeting: Moving Forward on PACER by the Australian Government, 12-14 November 2008, Nuku’alofa, Tonga
• Paper: “Using Skills and Resources Creatively to Fight Poverty,” presented at FRIEND’s ‘Stakeholders Forum for Developing Enterprises for Sustainable Income’, 1 November 2008, Lautoka, Fiji.
• Paper: “Melanesia-NZ Relations as a Pathway to Greater Pacific Regionalism” presented at the Melanesian Symposium Tok Talanoa –Pathway to the Future of Melanesia and NZ by the Pacific Cooperation Foundation, 29-30 September 2008, Wellington, NZ.
• Paper: “What do we want out of PACER – Coverage?” presented at the Regional Trade Officials’ Informal Meeting: Moving Forward on PACER by the NZ Government, 26-28 May 2008, Auckland, NZ.
• Paper: “EPA and what will it mean to Fiji”, presented to the Fiji Australia Business Forum 2007, 2-4 December 2007, Suva, Fiji.
• Paper: “EC-PACP EPA Interim Agreement – Services and Investment”, presented to the Pacific EPA Information Seminar by the EU, 26 November 2007, Port Vila, Vanuatu.

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• Board member of the Future Forests Fiji Ltd, Executive Development Properties Ltd and Kadavu Holdings Ltd
• Director of 5 private companies, viz: Tavola Holdings Ltd, Tavola Properties Co Ltd (Kingfisher Consultancy), Senirokula Ltd, Design Island Ltd, and Navusalevu Investment Co Ltd

Senator and Minister for Foreign Affairs & External Trade, Fiji Government [May 2006 – 5 Dec 2006]

• Chief Negotiator for the Pacific ACP States negotiating an Economic Partnership Agreement with the EU

Member of Parliament and Minister for Foreign Affairs & External Trade, Fiji Government [Sep 2001 – May 2006]

• Chief Negotiator for the Pacific ACP States negotiating an Economic Partnership Agreement with the EU
• Responsibilities included preparatory work, monitoring and implementation of trade agreements, e.g. WTO, SPARTECA, PICTA, PACER and MSGTA
• Fiji’s Representative, and as a Minister, to the WTO Ministerial Conferences in Cancun (2003) and Hong Kong (2005).  In Cancun, I was the ACP/G90 Spokesperson on the Small Economies Work Programme and on Non-Agricultural Market Access (NAMA).  In Hong Kong, I was the ACP/G90 Spokesperson on Trade Rules

Interim Minister for Foreign Affairs & External Trade & Sugar [Jul 2000 – Sep 2001]

• A major responsibility was to normalize Fiji’s bilateral and multilateral relations with foreign Governments and international organizations, after the coup of 2000.

Deputy Chief Executive – Fiji Sugar Marketing Co Ltd, Suva [Aug 1998 – Jul 2000]

• Responsible for the Suva Office, acting as the interface between the Company and Government
• Responsible also for all sugar matters under the WTO and the Cotonou Agreement.  I was an advisor to the WTO Ministerial Conference in Seattle in 1999
• My involvement in corporate directorship during this period included: Fijian Holdings Limited, Merchant Bank of Fiji Limited (now Merchant Finance) and Carlton Brewery (Fiji) Limited (now Foster’s Group Pacific Limited)

Head of the Fiji Mission to the EU, based in Brussels [Feb 1988 – Aug 1998]

Ambassador to Belgium, Luxembourg, The Netherlands, France, Italy, Spain, Portugal and Greece

Permanent Representative to UNESCO, FAO, GATT/WTO, WCO, and OPCW

Fiji’s Representative to IFAD, MFO and PCA

On occasions, Fiji’s Representative to UN (Geneva/Vienna), World Tourism Organization (Lisbon), ITU (Geneva)

• Negotiating roles I participated in during this period included:
  • ACP Spokesperson on Least-developed, Landlocked and Island Countries in the ACP-EU Negotiations for Lome IV
  • Member of the ACP Co-ordinating Group for the same negotiations
  • Chief Ambassadorial Negotiator for the ACP Group for the last six months of the same negotiations leading up to the signing of the Lome IV Convention in Lome, Togo, on 15 December 1989
  • Fiji’s spokesperson for Fiji’s accession to GATT, for the negotiations under the Uruguay Round, and for accession to the WTO.  I continued this role, in my capacity as advisor,  in the WTO Ministerial Conferences in Singapore (1996) and in Geneva (1998)
  • Member of the ACP Co-ordinating Group for the Mid-Term Review of Lome IV
  • Chief Negotiator for the ACP Sugar Group in the negotiations on additional preferential sugar access to the EU (Portugal and Finland).  This led to the signing of the Special Preferential Sugar Agreement (SPS) in June 1995
  • ACP Sugar Spokesperson in the preparatory work for the negotiations for a successor agreement to Lome IV.  This eventually led to the Cotonou Agreement.
• In 1992, I was the Commissioner General for the South Pacific Pavilion at EXPO’92 in Seville, Spain
• For the first 3 years in Brussels, I was also  the FSM Co Ltd Representative there

Fiji Sugar Marketing (FSM) Co Ltd Representative, London [May 1984 – Feb 1988]
Commercial Counsellor, Fiji High Commission, London

• With my dual role, and accountable to two authorities and operating under two budgets, I handled all commercial and tourism matters for the High Commission, and having to interface with Fiji’s sugar buyers, and brokers.  I was also cross-accredited to Brussels on sugar matters under the Lome Convention
• I chaired the Council for the Commonwealth Agricultural Bureau during its transition to the Commonwealth Agricultural Bureau International (CABI)
• I participated in the negotiations for a new International Sugar Agreement (ISA) and later represented Fiji to the International Sugar Organization Council and the International Coffee Organization

Held various positions in the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forests, including being its Chief Economist, Fiji Government [Feb 1973 – May 1984]

• As Chief Economist, I was responsible for the ministry’s planning – including Economic and Statistics, Land Use, and Farm Management.
• My involvement with ACP-EU Relations started in 1975 with Lome I, being responsible for the monitoring and implementation of the STABEX system, and with sugar price negotiations from 1976
• I also participated in the annual sugar price negotiations with various Pacific Island Countries and separately with NZ
• I was the Local Counterpart to a number of international consultants, including for the Tree-Crop (Coconut) Industry (FAO) and sugar (World Bank)
• I was a member of team that reviewed the scope and operation of the Alafua College in Apia
• Other issues of intimate  involvement included: Agricultural statistics and training, project and manpower development and planning, risk management, population mobility and development, agrarian reform and rural development, agricultural price stabilization, price policy and agricultural marketing
• My involvement in corporate directorship during this period included: Rewa Rice Ltd, Batiri Citrus Project Ltd, Fiji Sugar Marketing Co Ltd and Rewa Dairy Co Ltd (observer)

PERSONAL

• Date of birth: 10 October, 1946
• Place of birth: Dravuni, Ono, Kadavu, Fiji
• Nationality: Fiji Citizen
• Civil status: Married. Three children, six beautiful granddaughters, and one handsome grandson.
• Hobbies: Reading, gardening, music, golf and fishing
• Professional Membership: Board member of the Pacific Institute of Public Policy, PiPP; Member of the ACP Business Climate Facility (BizClim) ‘Network of Associate Experts’; Member of ANZ Bank Local Advisory Board; Trustee of Save the Children, Fiji
• International Membership: Member of the Pew Whales Commission

 

Board member of the Pacific Institute of Public Policy, PiPP

Member of the ACP Business Climate Facility (BizClim) ‘Network of Associate Experts’

Member: ANZ Bank Local Advisory Board

Trustee: Save the Children, Fiji