Good Morning, Namaste and Ni sa bula to you all

Let me begin by expressing my appreciation to you all for your preparation for this day and the warm reception extended to me this morning.

It is my pleasure to officiate today’s handing over ceremony of two projects to the Rishikul family of Nasinu out of the total 13 projects with a value of approximately 1 million US dollars around Fiji Islands donated by the people and the Government of Japan, in this Japanese fiscal year namely April 2009 to March 2010.

To be able to provide flexible and timely support to development projects at the grass-roots level such as this project, the Japanese Government offers a financial assistance scheme for development projects designed to meet the diverse needs of grassroots in developing countries. Known as Grant Assistance for Grassroots Human Security Projects program, commonly known as GGP, this scheme supports projects proposed by bodies such as Schools, Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) and Local Government Authorities.

Since the inception of GGP, Japan has been very active development partner in upgrading educational facilities of many schools around Fiji, and today’s handing over ceremony is a clear manifestation of Japan’s firm commitment and conviction to upgrade two Rishikul Schools with two new classrooms, two libraries, an ablution block and furniture to address the problem of classroom shortage faced by these schools due to rapid increasing population of Nasinu in the recent years.

Japan believes proper classroom facilities greatly assist in producing human resources through better education to achieve national growth and prosperity. Japan also acknowledges the financial hardships faced by stakeholders including Ministry of Education in granting aid to schools for major capital development projects such as these ones to improve facilities and make learning enjoyable and more rewarding for the children. In this regard, I request everyone associated with these schools in one way or the other to collectively plan and enact a maintenance scheme of these building complexes to sustain its useful life for future generations of Nasinu.

To conclude, this project is the most evident manifestation of the close relationship enjoyed by the people and Government of Japan and the Republic of the Fiji Islands. With these few words, ladies and gentlemen I officially declare the new classroom, library and toilet facility at Rishikul Primary School open to the children of Nasinu and I remain hopeful that the children of Nasinu will make the best use of these new facilities.

Thank you, Dhanyavad and Vinaka Vaka Levu