A lasting gift from Japan
p. 23 · Read in the full issue
TWENTY-TWO years after it was first established, initially as a trade bureau, the South Pacific Forum Secretariat has a larger perma nent meeting home thanks to
businessman Ryoichi Jinnai ofjapan.
Named in his honour, the Ryoichi Jinnai Conference Centre, was officially opened on July 5 by Jinnai, the individual who solely funded the US$l.4 million facility. It was an elaborate ceremony with full Fiji tra
ditional etiquette presided over by the
outgoing chairman of the South Pacific Forum, President Bernard Dowiyogo of Nauru. (Under Forum Convention, the South Pacific Forum is chaired on a rotating basis by the head of the host government. This month Nauru hands over the chairmanship to Australia.) The facility is the newest addition to the Forum Secretariat’s office complex in suburban Suva. Designed by the
Suva-based Architects Pacific, the Ryoichi Jinnai Conference Centre is one of the best and most modern conference facilities in Fiji. It consists of committee rooms, mini conference rooms, a reception area, a main conference room with seating capacity for up to 200 delegates and a fale a traditional meeting place. The older buildings of the headquarters of the Forum Secretariat were built on land provided by the government of Fiji and were funded by Australia and New Zealand.
The search for a new conference centre began several years ago when existing facilities could no longer adequately cater for the Forum Secretariat’s increasing activities in hosting regional meetings. This situation was due largely to the size of Forum and non-Forum delegations to these meetings, necessitated by Forum linkages with other extra-regional and international organisations. Before his six-year tenure was over, former secretary-general and one-time deputy prime minister of Tuvalu, Henry Naisali was approached by a Japanese businessman who had just completed a tour of the South Pacific. Jinnai wanted to fund a regional project that would be seen as a gift to the peoples of the South Pacific.
It was an ideal opportunity to raise the idea for a new conference centre for the South Pacific Forum Secretariat.
A year or so later, Forum leaders attending the 22nd Forum in Pohnpei, the capital of the Federated States of Micronesia, in July 1991 were informed of the project and its funding arrangements. Political leaders of the 15-member nations approved the project and in November that year Naisali flew to Tokyo to finalise funding arrangements, carrying with him a note from the Forum leaders as a token of appreciation for
Jinnai’s generosity.
The contract for the US$l.4 million project was let to the Kitano Construction Corporation ofjapan which was signed between it and the Forum Secretariat early last year.
Construction work, carried out by Fiji sub-contractors, began in February that year. And so four years after the joint vision for a new conference centre for the Forum Secretariat was conceived, it was finally realised. In remarks to thank the Japanese businessman, President Dowiyogo said that Jinnai’s “generosity and understanding of the needs and aspirations
of the peoples of the region made the
project possible”.
“Jinnai’s gesture in providing the
funding for this building, nearly one
and a half million American dollars, is, I think, unparalleled in the history of the Forum,” he said. “You have created a unique facility of which you, and the region, can be proud and which will stand as an enduring symbol of co
operation and understanding between
the peoples of Japan and the Pacific.”
President Dowiyogo raised the import ance of dialogue and consultation as being the cornerstone of developing co operation. The conference centre, he said, would be “an enduring testi monial to his (Jinnai’s) understanding of and interest in our region”. The Forum chairman also acknowledged
the Fiji government’s generosity in
providing land for the rest of the Forum Secretariat headquarters and the gov
ernment of Papua New Guinea for agreeing to provide furniture for the Ryoichi Jinnai Conference Centre.
The secretary-general of the Forum Secretariat, leremia Tabai, paid tribute to his predecessor, Naisali who together with Jinnai “conceived the vision which has resulted in this
splendid new building”.
“(Jinnai) is a long-standing friend to the Secretariat and to the region, who has generously supported other projects before this one. The Ryoichi Jinnai Conference Centre will stand as a permanent symbol of his unselfish commitment to the advancement of the interests of the people of the Pacific,”
Tabai said. For Jinnai, funding the new conference centre is a dream come true. In remarks at the opening, he related a comic series called Dankichi’s Adventure which he read in his childhood days. The setting was the South Pacific and “I used to identify with this boy, Dankichi, who developed the islands in co-operation with the island people”.
“The inspiring story created a lasting dream in my mind.
This childhood dream began to take shape in a wish to contribute to the development of industry, culture, society and economy of the Pacific Island nations,” Jinnai said. “I am deeply delighted that my childhood dream has come true ...” The secretary-general also underlined the “real contri bution” the Ryoichi Jinnai Conference Centre would make to the work of the Secretariat and to advancing the ideal of
regional co-operation.
“The Ryoichi Jinnai Conference Centre, with its space, modern amenities, reception area, and flexibility to cope with simultaneous sessions of sub-committees or drafting groups, will enable us to provide the service which our members and the Forum’s ever-expanding range of activities need,” Tabai said. At the official opening ceremony in Suva, Jinnai recalled how “pleasantly delighted” he was when his offer of assistance to help Forum Island Countries participate in the Interna tional Garden and Greenery Exposition in Osaka was accepted. “As a result, an exhibition named, “The South Pacific Its Nature and Life”, was organised, and I enjoyed this precious opportunity to develop friendship with represen tatives of each country of the region on their national day during the exhibition,” he said. □