Senior officials responsible for energy and transport in Pacific Island countries and territories gathered in Nadi, Fiji on Monday to participate in two days of meetings ahead of the Pacific Regional Energy and Transport (Aviation and Maritime) Ministers’ Meeting, which starts today. The officials’ meeting, organised by the Secretariat of the Pacific Community (SPC) in…
ST Barbara’s Simberi operations in New Ireland has focused on community involvement to promote the national safety week which ended last Friday. Health and Safety superintendent Daan Van Pletzen said the company was putting more stress on schools around the island. Activities on Simberi began the previous Sunday, which saw nine different departments in the…
Usually when you are talking of billions of dollars of investment in the Pacific you are talking about countries like Papua New Guinea or East Timor. But, in terms of infrastructure, there is an organisation that has a budget of well over one billion dollars to invest in small Pacific countries. The Pacifc Regional Infrastrucutre…
On 1 January this year, the Central Pacific Shipping Commission (CPSC) became operational. Work to achieve this began after the governments of Kiribati, Marshall Islands, Nauru and Tuvalu signed a regional agreement on international commercial shipping in 2010. CPSC is an initiative born out of the call of leaders in Pacific small island states to…
LIKE mobile phones, the internet is a need for many ordinary consumers in today’s modern technology-driven society. Internet service providers (ISPs) understand the demand and have tried to attract consumers with promotions highlighting how faster their speeds are or how generous they are with data. The fact is that consumers are hooked on to their…
The Central Bank of Solomon Islands (CBSI) board has decided in its meeting on Thursday 27th March 2014 to move away from the moderate contractionary monetary policy stance that prevailed in the recent six months to a neutral monetary policy stance over the next six months. The decision reflects current inflation trends and expected macroeconomic…
A Suva based company has been awarded a contract to help install solar systems in three Tuvalu islands. The clean and sustainable source of energy will allow the Government of Tuvalu to save up to 120,000 litres of diesel a year translating into a savings of $AUD200,000. The Government of Tuvalu, the European Union and…
THE two largest economies in the Pacific region have experienced strong commodity-led growth in recent years. However, the soon-to-be-released 2014 Asian Development Outlook by the Asian Development Bank would focus on challenges faced by Timor Leste and Papua New Guinea in translating that growth into better services and living standards. Asian Development Bank economist Milovan…
Seasonal farm workers from the Pacific Islands region working in New Zealand’s horticulture sector under the Recognised Seasonal Employer (RSE) scheme are being taught to manage their earnings well and invest wisely as part of PT&I’s ongoing annual financial literacy programme for seasonal workers. Last week, the Auckland offices of PT&I conducted a financial literacy…
The Pacific Islands Trade & Invest (PT&I) network, the trade and investment arm of the Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat, is organising a three day workshop from 31 March to 2 April in Suva. The Pacific Path to Market Workshop – a first for Fiji, will address market compliance constraints and highlight specific solutions to enhance…