Opening Address by the Permanent Secretary for the Public Service & Chairman of the National Quality Awards Council, Mr. Parmesh Chand

The General Manager – Productivity & Standards,

Mr. Anand Kuver

Secretariat of the Training of Productivity Activists

Participants to this Workshop

Ladies and Gentlemen

Ni sa Bula Vinaka, Namaste & Good Morning.

It is a pleasure to say a few words on the occasion of the Opening of this Training Workshop of Productivity Activists.

Advocates and Activists of Productivity are important as we jointly strive to create awareness about the need for improved productivity and the many good things which come with it.

Working smarter and harder in the face of global challenges is what we need to seriously consider in every facet of life in Fiji. It must be the order of the day and may I add that we need to work harder and smarter to remain competitive.

The theme for the 2010 Productivity Awareness Campaign, “Partnering to Raise Productivity” is very appropriate as it calls on every individual, every enterprise, every leader and all social partners to work collaboratively to raise productivity in Fiji.

What we urgently need in Fiji is a cadre of professionals that will become Productivity Activists in their own workplaces. The work at hand is enormous and Fiji needs more than just a National Productivity Organization run the productivity programs. It is in this context that the nomination and training of Activists such as yourselves will complement our collective efforts to get the importance of productivity recognized at all levels of our society, both in private and public sectors. Your collective efforts will revitalize our organizations and together we shall all be striving to go beyond the best and in the process raise productivity levels in whatever sector of the economy we are in.

Ladies & Gentlemen, having you here today to be trained as Productivity Activists is reassuring for me as I know that you will consider your roles as having a possible positive impact on your organizations. I urge you all to go back with renewed vows to create awareness in your organizations, be instrumental in the implementation of productivity tools that you are going to learn of from this training. I am also hopeful that you will assist in monitoring the initiative and sustaining and results and also to keep the interest of the implementers alive in your respective organizations.

Again, let me reiterate that your role as change agents and as resident experts on productivity issues is of paramount importance. Your learnings today must not only benefit your current organization but strive to replicate best practices in other organizations where you will go to offer your services.

I trust that you will use the next three days to learn and mull over the information that will be imparted to you. Please take the time to clarify any doubts and take the time to also discuss amongst yourselves the best practices for promoting productivity. I now have much pleasure in declaring this training open and I wish you all the very best in your roles as productivity activists.

Thank You

Dhanevard

&Vinaka Vakalevu