Mark Ramsden: I Will Miss Fiji
Iam going to miss Fiji!
That is how outgoing New Zealand High Commissioner to Fiji Mark Ramsden feels as he prepares to leave for a new posting to Ethiopia.
“I am going to miss a lot of things about Fiji. I feel there is a real sense of positivity with Fiji at the moment which is really good,” Mr Ramsden said.
Seeing Fiji and New Zealand’s relationship grow from strength to strength has been positive for the outgoing high commissioner.
Mr Ramsden, who was at a farewell at the New Zealand official residence, said he came to Fiji in September 2013 and it has been an interesting and rewarding time.
He said Fiji has been through a lot of positive changes in the last four years, and Fiji has become a country that has stopped looking backwards and started looking forward. “We have had some really fantastic things happen in the cooperation between the governments a good example is the deployment of the New Zealand Navy ship HMNZS Hawea here at the moment which is a great example of deep cooperation. It is a New Zealand ship with Fiji and New Zealand crew on it,” he said.
Mr Ramsden said Jonathan Curr, who is currently New Zealand’s ambassador to Ankara in Turkey, will replace him in Fiji. He said Mr Curr had not worked in Fiji before, but he knew the region. He had been posted to Tonga and served at the New Zealand High Commission in Nuku’alofa. “I have been speaking with him and he is very excited to come to Fiji. I leave in early December and he will arrive in the New Year probably in February,” he said. Mr Ramsden has been appointed as New Zealand’s Ambassador to Ethiopia and the African Union based in Addis Ababa. He said this was a real change of geography for him and his family and it is one of New Zealand’s newest diplomatic missions. “Here in Fiji we are close neighbours. We have a deep history together we have a long relationship. We have greatly appreciated the support and hospitality of the Fijian people,” Mr Ramsden said.
“I have been very lucky that I have had a fantastic team of people working with me in the High Commission and we have awesome Fijian staff who have worked for the high commission for a very long time and they are just wonderful and I will miss them a great deal and we have great people from New Zealand as well so it will be very hard leaving the team here behind.”