another program that has no real purpose. measurable impact should be realised in the disposable income of the citizens of our respective countries. an increase in disposable income can lead to increased savings, consumption and investments. this should have a positive effect on our economies. when we realise this impact, it would then have a flow on effect in our region. microfinance and financial inclusion are really still in their “ early ” days in our countries. the time from intervention to realising the full impact is yet to materialise on a wide scale, however, it is important to ensure that the benefits filter through. having indicators linking the various phases to the ultimate benefits of individual disposable income and country income, is important and must be put in place. in fiji we have only just started to document financial inclusion indicators to cover access and usage, but our goal must be to link the indicators to show the effects or impact on individual income and country income as a result of financial inclusion. progress in fiji ladies and gentlemen, i know there will be a special case study session on financial inclusion in fiji on thursday, where our recent experiences will be discussed in detail by the chairpersons of the three national taskforce working groups. however, it will be remiss of me if i did not at least give you a flavour of some of the important milestones in our journey so far. in november 2009, following a meeting of all stakeholders when we agreed to establish the national financial inclusion taskforce, we had set ourselves a quantifiable target of reaching 150, 000 unbanked fijians by the year 2014. at the time we felt this represented roughly a half of our underserved population and i am happy to say that we have now reached 93 percent of the initial target. but this has not been our only focus over the past three and a half years. in collaboration with our stakeholders some of our other achievements and initiatives include : bis central bankers ’ speeches • getting the involvement of all stakeholders ( ours is a model of team work with all wanting to participate ) ; • the establishment of a national financial inclusion strategy ; • the completion of national financial competency surveys ; • the development and establishment of a national financial literacy strategy ; • the holding of financial inclusion expositions to create awareness in remote parts of the country ( we have completed 10 to date ) ; • the establishment of a set of financial inclusion indicators to measure access and usage ; • established policies around consumer

are generally low, we do not have many resources nor do we have the large population mass ( papua new guinea would be an exception of course ). all our problems require us, as pacific islanders, to be innovative thinkers and to think beyond the traditional and conventional norms of doing things in order to succeed. embracing technological innovation is important for this advancement. in fiji we have embraced the importance of adopting technological innovation to help us deliver financial services to the unbanked. we have noted an increase around the country in the number of bank agents, atms and the eftpos machines and whilst not all machine access points allow cash - in functions, the introduction of in - store or agent banking by commercial banks is beginning to see an increase in cash - in and cash - out points. undp www. undp. org / content / undp / en /... / pacific - islands - financial - services. bis central bankers ’ speeches in 2007 there were an average of 7 atms per 1, 000km² in fiji and this had increased to 12 by 2012. similarly, there were an average of 72 eftpos machines per 1, 000km² in 2007 and this had increased to 208 in 2012. the introduction of mobile network operators into the financial services and products space, through e - money transfers and bill payments, have further increased the outreach of financial inclusion. embracing technology has enabled us to increase delivery channels to reach our people. affordability given our similar problems in small island economies and the limited resources, the services provided will only be meaningfully utilised, and our efforts successful, if these services are affordable to the unbanked. all accessibility will be useless if our people are not in a position to pay for these services. the use of technology has brought about cost effectiveness in the delivery of these financial services. what does enhancing impact mean? ladies and gentlemen, let me now turn to the “ impact ” aspect of our theme. this is very important and i am glad that this is in the theme of this forum because it emphasises the fundamental reasons why we are doing what we are doing in this area. all the financial inclusion interventions we are embarking on must translate into a measureable outcome that impacts and enhances the lives of our people. all our strategies and policies must, in the end, have a measurable impact on our own individual countries and our region. if this is not our ultimate aim, then all we are undertaking is just