New format for Exporter Awards

The 2012 Fiji Prime Minister's Exporter of the Year Awards at the Intercontinental Resort and Spa in Sigatoka this Saturday will take place under a new format.

For the first time since the inception of the awards in 1993, awards will be sector based and not country based, meaning exporters will not be rewarded for exporting to a certain country anymore but will compete based on the sector in which produce and export their goods and services from.

The change also reduces the number of awards at the event. A total of 12 awards will now be given compared to the 19 which was up for grabs previously.

Investment Fiji which is the organiser of the event received a record 110 applications for the 12 awards and the winners have been judged by an independent committee of judges.

Awards on offer for the exporters include RBF Agriculture Exporter of the Year, HPCL Fisheries Exporter of the Year, ANZ Tourism Services Award, Gold Manufacturers Ltd Manufacturing Exporter of the Year, Technix Bitumen Pacific Ltd Unique Exporter of the Year, FHL  i-Taukei Exporter of the Year, BSP Import Substitution Award, PSLL Small Exporter of the Year, LICI Medium Exporter of the Year, HFC Large Exporter of the Year, Bank of Baroda Service Exporter of the Year and the Vodafone and Westpac Prime Minister's Exporter of the Year Award.

Prime Minister, Commodore Voreqe Bainimarama will be the chief guest at the Vodafone and Westpac sponsored event.

By Reginald Chandar