Brief Biography for High Commissioner-designate to the United Kingdom
Mr. Jovilisi Vulailai Suveinakama

The President of the Republic of Fiji His Excellency Ratu Wiliame Katonivere officiated the commissioning of Jovilisi Suveinakama as the newly appointed Fiji’s High Commissioner to the United Kingdom on March 2024.

He graduated from the University of Waikato in Hamilton, New Zealand with a Law Degree majoring in public policy. In his early years following his graduation in 1999, he joined Howards Lawyers one of the larger law firms in Suva.

In 2003 he left Howards Lawyers and took up a role as a constitutional advisor for the Government of Tokelau. This role focused on Tokelau’s nation building program that led to overseeing the territory’s Referendum on the Question of Tokelau’s self –determination in 2006 and 2007. He was also appointed as the principal policy and strategic advisor for Tokelau administration that negotiated the New Zealand Government Economic Support Assistance (ESA) to implement the Tokelau National Strategic Plan 2010-2015. In 2012, Tokelau became the first country in the world to have all its electricity generated through solar power. In 2015, he was part of the Secretariat that provided advice to the sub-regional Polynesia Leaders Group (PLG).

In 2019, he was appointed as Fiji’s Permanent Secretary for Local Government. He resigned from this appointment. He competed in the Fiji National Elections in 2022 as a Social Democratic Liberal Party (SODELPA) Candidate, but was not successful. In 2023, he was elected to the Rewa Provincial Council and was also appointed as a Board Member for i-Taukei Trust Fund Board (iTTFB) which approved funding for the inaugural Great Council of Chiefs Meeting and the rebuild of its Complex.

Jovilisi operated his own legal practice, Suveinakama Legal, in Suva before he was appointed as Fiji’s High Commissioner to the United Kingdom.