This Fiji Day is our first step into a new normal as we recover from the COVID-19 pandemic - President Konrote

President Jioji Konrote says this Fiji Day is our first step into the next half century and today is our first step into a new normal as we recover from the COVID-19 pandemic.

In his last Fiji Day message to the nation, the President says this Fiji Day, we are not only celebrating history but we are making it.

He says together, we are moving from the difficult days of a dark and difficult seven months and we Fijians have done what we needed to do to make our country safe again.

Konrote says the Fiji that you remember from before this crisis is now being returned to us and our freedoms are returning to us.

Konrote says with God's blessings and strict adherence to the science behind combating this plague, we will sustain our recovery and go on to build our endurance to new threats like climate change.

He says in the face of adversity we Fijians have drawn strength from each other, even while we have been physically apart and adds he has seen good faith and spirit shared among our people.

Konrote adds he has seen our people overcome even the most obstinate obstacles and we have built a genuine democracy out of the ashes of inequality and privilege and have risen to heights not imagined 51 years ago.