21 Dec 2004

Australian parliament approves extension of Fiji's preferential garment export scheme

11:30 am on 21 December 2004

The preferential export of Fiji garments to Australia will continue for another seven years saving thousands of jobs.

The current agreement is due to expire at the end of this month.

But the Fiji Times reports that the Australian parliament has passed legislation, after earlier discussions, allowing for the continuation of the scheme for seven years.

But Fiji's garment export quota to the United States will expire at the end of this year, resulting in almost certain redundancies for about 5-thousand workers.