DSG-EGS Honey development
DSG-EGS Honey development 15Mar06
WELCOME STATEMENT BY MR PETER FORAU, DEPUTY SECRETARY GENERAL,
PACIFIC ISLANDS FORUM SECRETARIAT AT THE
REGIONAL HONEY STANDRADS DEVELOPMENT WORKSHOP
RAKIRAKI HOTEL, RAKIRAKI, FIJI
15 MARCH 2006
The Honourable Minister for Commerce,
Business Development and Investment
Distinguished Guests
Ladies and Gentlemen
It is my pleasure this morning to welcome you all to this Regional Honey Standards Development Workshop in Rakiraki.
2. Let me at the outset acknowledge the generous support of the European Union (EU), which is funding this meeting through the Pacific Regional Economic Integration Programme (PACREIP). This is yet another regional private sector-related project funded by the EU as it had also supported the International Kava Executive Council's meeting two weeks ago in Suva through the Brussels-based Centre for the Development of Enterprise. We certainly look forward to the EU's continued assistance towards private sector development throughout the region.
3. I also wish to thank the Government of Fiji, especially its National Centre for Small and Micro-Enterprises Development for working in partnership with the Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat in the organisation of this meeting. As most of us know, the Centre has been instrumental in carrying out the mandate of the Ministry of Commerce, Business Development for establishing and nurturing small and micro-enterprises to help generate income for the people of Fiji.
4. This meeting is timely as you will be discussing an issue that is at the heart of meaningful private sector development. We at the Secretariat recognise the issue of Standards as key to enhancing the quality of the region's products and services in the local, regional and international export markets. The recent kava meeting I referred to earlier, was held the same week with the Regional Standards and Conformance Meeting.
5. At both these meetings, it was agreed that standards requirements in niche products such as honey are areas that must be addressed in the Standards and Conformance infrastructure under the Regional Trade Facilitation Programme. This programme is intended to enhance the capacity of the private sector in all the Forum Island Countries to trade and invest efficiently and profitably when the Pacific Island Countries Trade Agreement (PICTA) is in effective operation.
6. Technical assistance will be necessary if our private sector is to meaningfully participate in free intra-regional trading under the provisions of PICTA. I am therefore pleased to note that such assistance is going to be delivered here in Rakiraki over the next three days. Your exchanges of information and sharing of experiences, we all hope, will lead to meaningful discussions that will eventually help the region to produce, process, package and market honey using a set of quality standards that is acceptable, achievable, affordable and realistic to your on-the-ground needs.
7. The Secretariat will continue to do whatever it can to support the region's business community, especially producers of niche products such as kava, noni and honey, through such capacity building and networking exercises for the private sector, including rural-based, women- and youth-owned micro-enterprises. This assistance will also be readily available to institutions that facilitate the specific needs of small and micro-entrepreneurs such as Small Enterprises Development Units.
8. I should also refer to the Secretariat's other regional private sector-related initiatives. In-country Microfinance training in collaboration with Bank Rakyat Indonesia, which started with Fiji, Kiribati and Tuvalu last year, will continue within the next few months in Nauru, Republic of Marshall Islands and Tonga. Work on the development and introduction of entrepreneurial education in our primary and secondary school curricular has also begun in collaboration with UNDP and ILO.
9. These will all help in achieving our Leaders' vision under the Pacific Plan, for our people at all levels of the community, to help themselves and to earn sustainable incomes, which will turn our region to a more peaceful, harmonious, secure and prosperous one.
10. I wish you all a good and productive workshop, an enjoyable stay in Rakiraki and a safe return home and, when you get there, the successful dissemination and application of lessons learnt.
11. I wish the workshop every success.
WELCOME STATEMENT BY MR PETER FORAU, DEPUTY SECRETARY GENERAL,
PACIFIC ISLANDS FORUM SECRETARIAT AT THE
REGIONAL HONEY STANDRADS DEVELOPMENT WORKSHOP
RAKIRAKI HOTEL, RAKIRAKI, FIJI
15 MARCH 2006
The Honourable Minister for Commerce,
Business Development and Investment
Distinguished Guests
Ladies and Gentlemen
It is my pleasure this morning to welcome you all to this Regional Honey Standards Development Workshop in Rakiraki.
2. Let me at the outset acknowledge the generous support of the European Union (EU), which is funding this meeting through the Pacific Regional Economic Integration Programme (PACREIP). This is yet another regional private sector-related project funded by the EU as it had also supported the International Kava Executive Council's meeting two weeks ago in Suva through the Brussels-based Centre for the Development of Enterprise. We certainly look forward to the EU's continued assistance towards private sector development throughout the region.
3. I also wish to thank the Government of Fiji, especially its National Centre for Small and Micro-Enterprises Development for working in partnership with the Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat in the organisation of this meeting. As most of us know, the Centre has been instrumental in carrying out the mandate of the Ministry of Commerce, Business Development for establishing and nurturing small and micro-enterprises to help generate income for the people of Fiji.
4. This meeting is timely as you will be discussing an issue that is at the heart of meaningful private sector development. We at the Secretariat recognise the issue of Standards as key to enhancing the quality of the region's products and services in the local, regional and international export markets. The recent kava meeting I referred to earlier, was held the same week with the Regional Standards and Conformance Meeting.
5. At both these meetings, it was agreed that standards requirements in niche products such as honey are areas that must be addressed in the Standards and Conformance infrastructure under the Regional Trade Facilitation Programme. This programme is intended to enhance the capacity of the private sector in all the Forum Island Countries to trade and invest efficiently and profitably when the Pacific Island Countries Trade Agreement (PICTA) is in effective operation.
6. Technical assistance will be necessary if our private sector is to meaningfully participate in free intra-regional trading under the provisions of PICTA. I am therefore pleased to note that such assistance is going to be delivered here in Rakiraki over the next three days. Your exchanges of information and sharing of experiences, we all hope, will lead to meaningful discussions that will eventually help the region to produce, process, package and market honey using a set of quality standards that is acceptable, achievable, affordable and realistic to your on-the-ground needs.
7. The Secretariat will continue to do whatever it can to support the region's business community, especially producers of niche products such as kava, noni and honey, through such capacity building and networking exercises for the private sector, including rural-based, women- and youth-owned micro-enterprises. This assistance will also be readily available to institutions that facilitate the specific needs of small and micro-entrepreneurs such as Small Enterprises Development Units.
8. I should also refer to the Secretariat's other regional private sector-related initiatives. In-country Microfinance training in collaboration with Bank Rakyat Indonesia, which started with Fiji, Kiribati and Tuvalu last year, will continue within the next few months in Nauru, Republic of Marshall Islands and Tonga. Work on the development and introduction of entrepreneurial education in our primary and secondary school curricular has also begun in collaboration with UNDP and ILO.
9. These will all help in achieving our Leaders' vision under the Pacific Plan, for our people at all levels of the community, to help themselves and to earn sustainable incomes, which will turn our region to a more peaceful, harmonious, secure and prosperous one.
10. I wish you all a good and productive workshop, an enjoyable stay in Rakiraki and a safe return home and, when you get there, the successful dissemination and application of lessons learnt.
11. I wish the workshop every success.
