Eight women in customs and border control have successfully graduated from the third phase of the Pacific Women’s Professional Development Program (PWPDP).
Graduates Chief Customs Officer Claudette Whippy, Senior Customs Officers Tale Tikoisuva, Preethi Prasad, Mereoni Jikotani, Laisa Naulumatua and Jocelyn Permal and Customs Officers Anshu Mudaliar and Ani Mei Salusalu are not only proving that they can lead at all levels of Fiji Revenue and Customs Service but are also ready to mobilise positive changes in border protection, tax compliance, transnational crime investigations, maritime surveillance and facilitation of trade.
Applauding the women for their excellent achievement, FRCS Acting Chief Executive, Malakai Naiyaga said this is a fantastic achievement for the customs and border control leaders.
“It is great to see that our women are overcoming the hurdles and are making positive
advances towards leadership role. We are proud of you all – well done,” Naiyaga said.
“FRCS is working actively and steadily over the years to become a gender-balanced
administration and I am proud to state FRCS has a good gender balance in our leadership
team and throughout the organisation.”
“Keeping in line with the 2024 International Women’s Day campaign theme of “inspire
inclusion”, our customs women are not only inspiring their fellow female colleagues to be
included in leadership roles but for more women to join the customs profession.”
In a joint initiative between the Oceania Customs Organisation (OCO), the Australian Border Force (ABF) and RMIT University, 44 women from 14 Pacific countries graduated from the third phase of the PWPDP.
