Honiara : 25 February 2018
Letter to the Editors, Solomon Star and Island Sun newspaper.
BUSINESS INVESTMENT IN THE SOLOMON ISLANDS
Last week the resident Taiwanese Ambassador to the Solomon Island, His Excellency Roger Luo, handed over to the Prime Minister a generous donation of 11,000 solar lamps to be distributed to students in 50 constituencies.
The Ambassador also said during the official handover ceremony that each constituency will receive another 220 units of solar lamps this year.
I was reminded when reading of the gift of the solar lamps a news report which featured in the local media last October when it was said by Ambassador Luo that a leading Taiwanese solar panel manufacture would be coming to set up a solar panel factory in Honiara early this year.
On that occasion Ambassador Luo said words to the effect, “There will be more Taiwanese companies to come to the Solomon Islands to explore opportunities of business and investment”.
Encouraged by the prospect of a solar panel factory in Honiara to provide jobs and by the Ambassador’s promise of more Taiwanese companies seeking business opportunities in the Solomon Islands, I posted details on my website www.solomonislandsinfocus.com.
I was soon contacted by a manufacturer of electronic components with a factory in Taipei seeking to make contact with the Solomon Islands Government with a view to establishing an enterprise in the Solomon Islands in order to manufacture electrical components for export.
Soon after this approach, I received a detailed project proposal from an international fisheries enterprise seeking to do similar work in the Solomon Islands.
In both cases, the interested parties sent me detailed business proposals for the SIG to consider.
I contacted a person that I knew in Honiara and sent the two business plans to him with a request that, if possible, the business project proposals be given to the appropriate government officials that might consider them.
I was led to believe that would be done, but since then I have had enquiries from each of the prospective developers to say they have had no feedback.
I do not pretend that I have any official connection with the SIG and merely try to promote the Solomon Islands through the medium of my website, but it would be helpful if international would-be business developers interested in business and investment in the Solomons could have an official point of contact that I could advertise.
Yours sincerely
Frank Short
