##enting support throughout. i must also thank our funding partners, the alliance for financial inclusion, for covering the consultant ’ s fee and the australian government which provided the funding through the pacific financial inclusion programme for the data collection exercise. these surveys are very costly and we greatly appreciate the commitment and continuous financial support from our partners. thank you to all our other committed stakeholders and to my staff at the reserve bank who continue to push us onwards in order that we may meet our goals. finally, let me share with you some great news. fiji has just been selected to host the 2016 alliance for financial inclusion global policy forum. at the last count, the alliance had a membership of around 95 emerging and developing countries represented by 123 institutions, including many central banks and finance ministries. we have been told that we can expect more than 600 delegates to fly into nadi in september next year. this will be a tremendous challenge for us as hosts but a great opportunity to showcase, not only our beautiful country, but also our collaborative effort and growing footprint in financial inclusion. i look forward to all your continued commitment to giving our people in fiji that lift or hand - up towards a better life. vinaka vaka levu. bis central bankers ’ speeches

barry whiteside : promoting financial inclusion in fiji opening remarks by mr barry whiteside, governor of the reserve bank of fiji, at the launch of the financial services demand - side survey report, suva, 17 september 2015. * * * salutations the australian high commissioner, ms margaret twomey the un resident representative, ms osnat lubrani the uncdf executive secretary, ms judith karl excellencies and members of the diplomatic corps distinguished guests our financial inclusion partners and stakeholders members of the media ladies and gentlemen welcome and introduction bula vinaka and a very good afternoon to you all. it is my great pleasure to welcome you to the official launch of the demand - side survey report on financial services in fiji. thank you for taking the time to share this milestone event in our financial inclusion journey. after months of collaboration between the reserve bank and our partners, the pacific financial inclusion programme, the alliance for financial inclusion, the fiji bureau of statistics and other key stakeholders, the final version of the report is now ready to be unveiled. many of you present here will know that our financial inclusion journey effectively started back in late 2009 and early 2010, with the setting up of our national financial inclusion taskforce following a gathering of interested stakeholders. these stakeholders agreed to commit to an end - goal of helping our people to improve their lives and those of their families by providing easier access to financial services along with the necessary knowledge and skills to best utilize them. at the time we made a joint commitment to reach 150, 000 unbanked or underserved fijians by the year 2014. this was a priority goal of our first medium term national financial inclusion strategy, which also included incorporating financial education into the fijian schools ’ curriculum. it was extremely pleasing to note that both these targets were achieved well before the end of 2014. collaboration and partnership with all stakeholders has clearly been the key to our success and this must be recognized. and as taskforce chairman i would like to say how grateful i am for the total support given to me and to the reserve bank by the financial institutions, government ministries, civil society and donor agencies – all our stakeholder partners. we share a common vision of making fiji a better place for all our people. but while there have been some key achievements in the past few years, we believe that much more remains to be done to promote and facilitate financial inclusion in fiji. we are now in the process of formulating our 2nd medium term financial inclusion strategy which will