‘The Summit Can Do Without a Big Show’
You can do economic consultations without having a big fest, says former Attorney-General and Minister for Economy, Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum. He made the comment when questioned about the 2023 National Economic Summit budget which will be held at the Grand Pacific Hotel in Suva today and tomorrow.
Minister for Finance Biman Prasad earlier said the Summit was of an estimate of $360,000 budget.
Mr Sayed-Khaiyum said there seemed to be a bit of confusion on what the cost of the economic summit was and who was paying for it.
He said the Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka on one hand was saying it was costing too much and then Mr Prasad said that it was not that much but there was some sponsorship.
Mr Sayed-Khaiyum said these things were quite worrisome from the economic perspective.
“I think fundamentally when you look at the economic summit, what you need to understand is that people invest in a country, people feel confident in investing and buy homes and feel confident to invest economically,” Mr SayedKhaiyum said.
“Overseas economists will feel confident to invest in the country when there is stability in respect for the rule of law, policies and when there is security from an economic perspective. “That is what leads to economic prosperity and stability.
“We can have thousands of dollars of kalavata and spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on GPH but it will not instill confidence by getting a few people who live in Suva or a few organisations to come to this summit, but to actually go around and speak to people on the grassroots level.
“If the grassroots levels are under the threat of uncertainty, then it does not raise the confidence,” Mr Sayed-Khaiyum said.
He added that having an expensive economic summit worth $360,000 could be used to actually fix up a few roads to some villages or some farming areas for repair works.