The Fiji GIS/RS User forum commenced this years monthly user group meeting and was hosted by the Ministry of Lands & Mineral Resources on Tuesday the 11th of February, 2020. There were a total of 35 attendees from the different government agencies and representatives from the Private sector. This included Lukemine Enterprises, Ministry of Forestry, Ministry of Civil Service, The Fiji Police Force, Fiji Roads Authority, Ministry of Rural and Maritime Development, Ministry of Women, Children and Poverty Alleviation, Telecom Fiji Limited, Drone services Fiji, Fiji Bureau of Statistics, as well as staff from the Ministry of Lands and Mineral Resources.
The forum was fortunate to also have the presence of the CEO for Lands and Natural Resources Tonga – Ms. Rosemond Bing and Director General for Lands and Natural Resources Vanuatu – Mr. Arthur Faerua. The Director Geospatial Information Management Fiji – Ms. Meizyanne Hicks extended a warm welcome to our two visitors and thanked all those who were present, encouraging everyone to keep attending these meetings, bringing forth technical issues that are faced by the different agencies, solutions and ideas that would move GIS & Remote sensing in Fiji forward.
The meeting was chaired by the Senior Geospatial Officer – Mr. Vilimone Raqona and had presentations from Ms. Katarine Manueli on the 2019 User Forum report, Mr. Viliame Waqa presenting on the updates of the Mapping section of the Lands Department, Mr. Raqona on the Vanua GIS and Mr Epeli Rosanabalawa on the newly launched Fiji Geospatial Information Management Council (FGIMC) website. The next user forum is scheduled for the 3rd of March and will be hosted by the Ministry of Forestry. The secretariat encourages and welcomes presentations on GIS/RS projects and updates.