Fiji

Fiji Latest News

A surprise announcement by the Quad to build a “model” port in Fiji recently sparked hopes that the US, Australia, India, and Japan will fund a $1.82 billion plan to relocate the nation’s main dock.

About Fiji

• It is a country located in the South Pacific Ocean, surrounding the Koro Sea, to the northeast of New Zealand and southwest of Hawaii.
• It does not share land borders with any other country. 
• It is made up of about 300 islands, only about 100 of which are inhabited.  
• The islands feature a central range of mountains, giving way to plateaus, lowlands, and coastal plains.  
• Almost half of Fiji’s total area remains forested, while dry grasslands are found in western areas of the large islands.
• The capital, Suva, is on the southeast coast of the largest island, Viti Levu (“Great Fiji”).
  • Viti Levu accounts for more than half of Fiji’s land area.
  • It includes the country’s highest peak, Mount Tomanivi, standing at 1,324 m (4,344 ft). 
• Fiji Islands are largely the product of volcanic action, sedimentary deposit, and formations of coral. 
• The majority of Fijians are of mixed Melanesian-Polynesian ancestry, with a large South Asian minority. 
• Fiji’s major languages are English, Fijian, and Hindi, and its major religions are Christianity, Hinduism, and Islam. 
• Currency: Fiji dollar.
• Fiji has one of the most developed economies in the Pacific, relying heavily on its tourism and sugar industries. 
• Political History:
  • Fiji became independent in 1970 after nearly a century as a British colony. 
  • On independence, Fiji adopted a constitutional democratic form of government based on the Westminster system. 
  • A series of coups (1987, 2000, and 2006) slowed Fiji’s progress to its current parliamentary democracy under the 2013 Constitution of Fiji. 
  • Fiji has a 55-seat unicameral parliament.

Source: FP

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