learn from iliesa ’ s hard work, courage, determination and achievements to continue to strive for the best. you can achieve the most difficult of tasks if you set your mind to it. you are fiji ’ s future. if you have the will to do so, you will surely succeed. take that lesson from iliesa. we believe that this is the highest level of recognition that we at the reserve bank can give someone. what better way than to be featured on our fijian currency, be known to the rest of the world and promote fiji to the rest of the world. on behalf of the board, management and staff of the reserve bank of fiji, i once again congratulate iliesa on his magnificent gold medal win at the london 2012 paralympic games and wish him well for the future. i also extend my sincere appreciation and gratitude to you all for taking time out to celebrate this occasion with iliesa. vinaka vakalevu and god bless fiji! bis central bankers ’ speeches

taskforce in february 2010 to drive and monitor microfinance and greater financial inclusion strategies and initiatives first developed at the workshop. the rbf governor is the chairperson. the nfit, as it is known, has also appointed three working groups to support its mandate. these working groups are responsible for developing and implementing national strategies in each of the areas of financial literacy, statistics and microfinance. the working groups are chaired by representatives from the taskforce, with the membership coming from the various stakeholders, including the public and private sectors and donor agencies. they provide quarterly updates on their progress to the nfit. a follow - up workshop is scheduled for november this year to take stock of progress made towards the targets set last year. given that the rbf was passed the baton by the stakeholders during the first workshop to drive the new direction with respect to microfinance and financial inclusion, it is our intention to see that we achieve what we planned to do. a heavy reliance will, of course, be placed on getting the ongoing collaboration and support of the banks, ngos, donors, private sector and government. ii. electronic money project ladies and gentlemen, an exciting means of extending financial and payments services in developing countries to the financially excluded is the use of innovative communication technologies and instruments such as mobile phones. the reserve bank has been monitoring such developments for some time and has been preparing the groundwork in terms of the policies and laws to safeguard the users. in june this year, the rbf successfully launched its “ e - money fiji project ” and established an internal committee known as the “ e - money taskforce ” to oversee the development of electronic money initiatives in fiji and related payment system developments. iii. mobile money the e - money fiji project initiative covers the introduction of mobile money transfer services in fiji. there is no question that this new service has the capability of expanding the reach and accessibility of financial services to the unbanked and rural areas. there are an estimated 750, 000 mobile users in fiji at this time covering 90 percent of the population. to date, the rbf has provided commercial licenses to both mobile network operators, vodafone and digicel, to launch their mobile money transfer services. vodafone took the lead and launched its m - paisa brand a month ago and had 50, 000 signed - up users as of last thursday, the 15th july 2010. digicel followed suit with its “ digicel mobile money ” launch last