SUVA, July 22 (Xinhua) -- Fiji has invested over 14 million Fijian dollars (about 6.5 million U.S. dollars) in local export driven companies over the past 12 years, a Fijian minister said on Monday.

According to a government statement on Monday, Fiji's Minister for Industry, Trade, Tourism, Local Government, Housing and Community Development Premila Kumar said this while handing out National Export Strategy (NES) grants to five more companies in the Fijian capital Suva.

"The NES, over the past 12 years, has assisted 105 projects with support amounting to over 14 million Fijian dollars. The sectors which were assisted under the NES are the Forestry, Fisheries, Agro-business and Manufacturing. This has led to a significant increase in export earnings, diversification of destination markets and employment creation," Kumar said.

The NES, which was launched in 2006, is to stimulate the island nation's trade and export sector and to improve the overall socio-economic development of the country. Their aim was to generate exports in specific areas to supply regional and international markets and in doing so, improve their inflow of foreign revenue, create employment and boost productivity in the Fijian economy.

As for the grants to the five local companies, the minister said that these grants will be used solely for the upgrading of infrastructure, procurement of value adding machines, equipment and addressing storage problems.

The grants will also enable the respective companies to reach out to grass root communities and villages who may have goods, but have no market access due to transportation problems.