technical assistance by afi and pfip in the form of regional meetings, like this workshop, has continued to strengthen the platform we have for capacity building and knowledge sharing, which are key to the effective implementation of our respective financial inclusion strategies and initiatives. bis central bankers ’ speeches fiji - financial inclusion journey and key milestones : ladies and gentlemen and fellow colleagues, while our focus this week will be on inclusive insurance, to put things in perspective please allow me to briefly take you through some key milestones of fiji ’ s financial inclusion journey. the reserve bank took the stand, back in 2009, to strategically drive financial inclusion in fiji. i acknowledge in this regard the vision of our former governors and senior staff, as well as our key stakeholders, for realising and accepting the potential for financial inclusion to significantly contribute to fiji ’ s economic development. this resulted in the reserve bank, in 2009, establishing a new group within its organisation structure to focus on financial systems development. our partnership with the pacific financial inclusion programme was also established in that same year, when we hosted our first national microfinance workshop. fiji ’ s first national financial inclusion strategy was adopted as the major outcome of this initial workshop. since that time we have continued to take a collaborative approach, with the setting up of the national financial inclusion taskforce and its four working groups spearheading much of what we do. this model has worked well for us in providing a platform for effective collaboration between all stakeholders, which include the financial institutions, government agencies, donors, mobile network operators and civil society. getting the buy - in of our stakeholders was considered critical to the success of our collaborative efforts, and ensuring that this is in place all the time during our journey has been instrumental in the effective implementation of our financial inclusion strategy. in early 2010, the reserve bank of fiji issued three supervision policies with the objective of engaging commercial banks to extend their reach to the unbanked in fiji and in 2011 fiji was one of the first of 17 countries to make commitments under the maya declaration at the 3rd afi global policy forum in cancun mexico. in 2013, the reserve bank of fiji was awarded the inaugural maya declaration award in recognition of what was assessed as the effective monitoring and reporting of our global commitments towards financial inclusion. some of the significant achievements which contributed to the meeting of our agreed targets included : • the integration of financial education ( fined ) into the school curriculum at both primary and secondary levels ; • the introduction of mobile money ; • implementation

, helped by the strong growth in domestic exports and higher tourism receipts as well as lower import demand. reserves are currently around f $ 1. 3 billion, equivalent to 4. 0 months of import cover. not too long ago, foreign reserves had reached critical levels of below 2 month of imports. while inflation and reserves are stable, domestic economic recovery this year has not been as firm as earlier expected, thus posing some concerns to our objectives and the economy ’ s future growth. as such, it is critical that national policies are aimed at facilitating sustainable economic growth which will create long term macroeconomic stability. to reiterate the views i shared at the private sector consultative forum on the 2010 national budget as well as at the fiji institute of accountants congress in june this year – the challenge before us is to raise growth – that is to raise investment and exports, improve business conditions, accelerate reforms, raise productivity and diversify the economy. for its part, the government remains committed to providing the needed impetus to the economy through collaboration with and providing incentives to the private sector, reduction of operational costs, facilitating competition in the economy, caring for the poor and the marginalised and pursuing plans to modernise and reform the economy. the government continues to make progress on implementing structural reforms in all facets of the public service through various reforms including the downsizing of the civil service and the implementation of a more accountable public financial management system. the restructure of public enterprises is to make them more efficient and business friendly. investments in infrastructure also remain a key priority given the government ’ s push for more investment activity. land reforms now being implemented will greatly boost investment. in particular this will give the farmers in the agriculture sector the opportunity to sub - lease or lease land from the state for investment with certainty of tenure, while improving the rental return to landowners and the state. this may also provide opportunities for greater commercial agriculture. in partnership with government, the reserve bank continues to do its best to contribute in this national effort. faced with huge challenges in financial stability early last year, the bank implemented various policy measures which returned stability to the country ’ s balance of payments position. since then, the reserve bank has implemented various other policy changes to support the government ’ s efforts to facilitate growth in the economy. in this regard, the reserve bank has taken a number of initiatives to encourage local value added and to reduce imports of goods than can easily be produced locally. in relation to this, the bank offered sponsorship for training of