SUVA - Fiji on Thursday expressed its appreciation towards China for capacity building assistance, as the Pacific island nation's senior officials are undergoing intensive training at a renowned institution in the Asian country.

The group of Fiji's 19 senior civil servants, led by Sakeasi Waikere, deputy secretary of the Office of the Prime Minister, is currently receiving week-long training tailor made for senior government leaders and top executives from business sectors at the China Executive Leadership Academy Pudong (CELAP), situated in Shanghai.

Other group members include senior officials from Fiji's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Women, Children and Poverty Alleviation, Ministry of Fisheries, Ministry of Forests, Ministry of Agriculture, Ministry of Lands and Mineral Resources, as well as senior managers from the Land Transport Authority and Water Authority of Fiji.

"The Fijian government acknowledges the government of the People's Republic of China and its embassy in Suva for facilitating such opportunities to observe China's development with an ongoing theme of leadership building," Fiji's Department of Information said.

"With the current ongoing civil service reforms, such international engagements will not only improve service delivery within the civil service and the people it serves, it will also benefit the livelihood of the Fijian people through the implementation of new initiatives learnt that directly impacts Fijian lives," the department added.

Officially opened in March, 2005, the CELAP is a Shanghai-based national institution in leadership training and development.