13 April 2019
Showcasing Solomon Islands quality products.
Five Solomon Islands local businesses participated in this year’s Pacific Trade Invest (PTI) New Zealand’s Path to Market programme in Auckland.
“The programme opened opportunities for companies and their products to enter the New Zealand market and potentially beyond.
“Forty Pacific Island companies and businesses with market ready or nearly market ready products participated in the five-day trade mission from Friday 5 April to Tuesday 9 April 2019.
“Solomon Islands’ delegation at this year’s Path to Market was led by Mr John Paul Alasia, the Export Industry Development Officer (EIDO) of the Solomon Islands Chamber of Commerce and Industry (SICCI).”
Source Solomon Star News
Showcasing their products to potential buyers and market sources in New Zealand was made possible through the SICCI’s partnership through PTI New Zealand and with funding from the SIG and PHARMA PLUS.
The idea behind SICCI’s objective was to increase the scale of operations and market access in order to help local businesses achieve their full potential.
Some important trade marketing contacts are said to have been made in New Zealand and there has been much interest shown in local Kava products, Noni juice and gemstones from the Technical Institute of Malaita.
Mr Alasia from SICCI said the important thing now is for those businesses to follow up on those opportunities.
“The point is we need the private sector working together with Government to support our local potential export ready businesses on product development and market awareness.
“This is very critical for job creation and ultimately the economy." he said.
Participating in the PTI programme was designed to not just introduce the local products to the New Zealand consumer market but to also find distributors and retailers for the products and help establish business relationships.
A very worthy initiative and one I hope will result in local quality products such as kava, Nono fruit and gemstones find buyers in external markets but an initiative which will attract more interest in what the Solomon Islands has to offer, including the great potential of tourism.
Yours sincerely
Frank Short
