Transcript
ANDREW JACOBS: It's new, it's the first time we have been engaged in budget support with Fiji.
JO O'BRIEN: So why has the European Union decided to do that now?
AJ: Well we find that budget support is a very efficient and effective way of providing development assistance and in many of our Pacific partner countries we have already started budget support programmes. We feel confident that with Fiji we will have a good programme of budget support in the coming years.
JOB: Can you explain how it differs from previous arrangements you've had with Fiji?
AJ: Traditionally development assistance is provided through lets say the purchase of equipment or the provision of technical assistance, very often the funds remain with the donor, the development partner and the development partner is in the position of allocating the funds and checking how every cent is spent. With budget support funds are transferred directly into the government's accounts and the partner government is in the position of deciding how to use funds. But the disbursement of the funds is carried out when a certain number of achievements have been registered.
JOB: And your confident in the Government's ability to manage those finances?
AJ: We need first of all to make sure that there is a robust sector strategy for sugar and agriculture. There needs to be good public financial management and I know that the Government has made a lot of good progress in that area as well. So we feel that the time is right to move on to budget support.
JOB: And are there any key achievements that you'd like to see happening in the sugar industry particularly?
AJ: I really don't want to preempt the discussions that we'll have with the Government. We know that the sugar industry does face certain challenges, for example in less than a year's time the preferential price regime that exists on the European market will come to an end because of a WTO ruling so Fiji sugar will be sold let's say in a much more price competitive environment so certainly achievements in competitiveness, reducing costs and so on will be important.
JOB: Why has the European Union decided to dedicate a significant amount of funding to the sugar and agriculture sector?
AJ: There's a lot of I think work that needs to be done, this is the end of a process of discussion with the Government. We have for a long time worked with the sugar industry, we've also for several years now worked on diversification of agriculture so it's an area where the European Union and the Government have a lot of experience in working constructively together.
JOB: There does seem to have been quite a lot of controversy around the sugar industry in recent times. Is the European Union concerned about what's been happening in terms of the management of the industry?
AJ: I think our concern which we share with the Government is that the industry moves forward, the industry achieves as much as it can for the people of Fiji and meets the challenges that it's facing.