and exquisite boutiques that chinese travellers fancy, we offer the chinese tourist a unique experience, a tranquil environment, beautiful sandy beaches, crystal clear waters and the warmth of the fijian people, in the only place “ where happiness finds you ”. numbers and earnings from chinese visitors to fiji have grown tremendously over the last 6 years. from just 4, 000 in 2009, chinese visitor numbers increased to 28, 000 in 2014, a seven - fold increase. they have already surpassed 30, 000 this year, and were more than 47 percent higher than the corresponding first nine months of 2014. similarly, annual tourism earnings from china have increased from $ 12 million to $ 45 million over the last 6 years from 2009. with the aim of growing the chinese tourist market in fiji, the government has embarked on specific initiatives including visa - free travel, a travel guidebook in chinese and the acceptance by nearly half the atms in the country of union pay credit cards. tourism fiji also conducts outreach programs to promote fiji as a travel destination and rosie holidays recently ventured into providing special chartered flights for tourists from shanghai to fiji. we understand this will continue in early 2016. furthermore, the opening of a new fijian trade commission in shanghai in 2014 and the proposed free trade agreement between fiji and china, are expected to further boost trade and investment opportunities between the two countries. bis central bankers ’ speeches investment, loans & aid ladies and gentlemen, china is also an important investment partner for fiji, evident in the many development projects that have already been completed and others that are currently ongoing in the country. some of these include the vodafone arena, the us $ 158 million nadarivatu hydroelectric - power project, the navua hospital and highway road projects in vanua levu. chinese companies have also bought stakes in vatukoula gold mines limited and invested heavily in our primary industries for bauxite and fishing. china ’ s financial assistance to fiji made the country one of the largest recipients of china ’ s loans in the pacific region. as of september this year total loans were approximately $ 521 million or around 38 percent of our external debt. conclusion your excellencies, ladies and gentlemen. fiji recently celebrated 160 years of the chinese community living in fiji, marking the much longer relationship and presence that china has had with fiji. our local chinese community has played a substantial role in fiji ’ s nation building and contributed significantly to the economy through agriculture, fishing, construction, health and retail business

to benefit consumers and enhance competition in the market. this framework was very well received by the banks and we look forward to their continuing support towards improving the efficient and effective transmission of interest rates in the market. reducing the costs of bank intermediation is another important area that the reserve bank is pursuing and i am pleased to say that work by a recently established joint abif / rbf committee to drive the atm / eftpos interchange project, is progressing well and work on this is expected to be completed by the end of this year. ladies and gentlemen, we have weathered the storm of the global financial crisis coupled with several natural disasters over the last 3 years and are expected to recover from this year onwards. partnership between all stakeholders to ensuring practical solutions are carried out to build our economy and nation is critical. while much has been done in recent times, a huge part of our growth potential is still at stake should we become complacent. as you know, the reserve bank has clearly ventured outside the domain of central banking, in support of government reforms and policies to move the economy forward. we hope that, as partners with the government and the reserve bank, you will continue the momentum with which you have worked, to help take fiji forward towards economic and financial prosperity. thank you.