Geography

Capital: Suva

Area: 18,270km2

Population: 905,502 (2017)

Population: Fijians 56.8%, Indians 37.5%, Europeans and others 5.7%.

Languages: Fijian, English, Hindustan

Religion: Christian 64.4%, Hindu 27.9%, Other 7.7%

Economy

BNI pr. capita: USD 45,411

Annual GDP growth (2017): 3.8 per cent.

Currency: Fiji dollar (FJD)

Exchange rate: DKK 3.43 pr. FJD 1.00 (January 2018)

Tourism and sugar exports are Fiji’s two largest industries. The tourism industry accounts for approx. 30 percent of Fiji’s GDP and employs more than half of the population. Fiji’s tourism industry has grown in the last decade and has become an important source of employment, as well as the largest source of foreign exchange.

Fiji is primarily an agricultural community, however, forestry and fishing are also important sources of income. A number of the crops Fiji produces include sugar cane, coconut oil, cocoa and ginger. Sugar production employs over a quarter of Fiji’s workforce. The main manufacturing industries are sugar and fish processing.

Government & Parliament

Head of State: Jioji Konusi Konrote

Head of Government: Josaia V. Bainimarama

Minister for Foreign Affairs: Inia Batikoto Seruiratu

Domestic policy

Fiji is a former British colony. Upon independence in 1970, Fiji adopted a constitutional democratic form of government. Prior to the 2006 military coup, Fiji had a two-chamber parliament consisting of the Senate and the House of Representatives and a government headed by a Prime Minister.

Racial discrimination, political unrest and military coups are a persistent problem in Fiji. In the late 1990s, an Indian prime minister won the election but it led to riots and violence and he was deposed in a coup after just one year. In Fiji’s recent elections in 2006, there was hope for a democratization process, but the decision led to strong political turbulence and a new military coup. During the military coup, Epeli took over Nailatikau and thus became Fiji’s president (head of state). On April 10, 2009, President Nailatikau announced that he had repealed the Fiji Constitution of 1997. In 2015, Konrote took office as the new President of Fiji.

Foreign policy

Fiji is a member of the UN and the Pacific Islands Forum and was a former member of the Commonwealth, from which Fiji was suspended after the military coup in 2006.
Furthermore, Fiji has trade and political relations with Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands and Vanuatu through the Melanesian Spearhead Group. Fiji is also a member of the bilateral ACP group affiliated with the EU. Fiji became a member of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) in 1993, and is an active member of the World Trade Organization (WTO).