External Trade

PS Collin Beck and Counsellor Julie McCallum in a photo shoot with the workers at the Pre-Departure Briefing, St. Barnabas Leaf hut.

A total of 187 workers flew out of the country last week on Friday 7th May to work in various different farms and abattoirs in Australia.

Participants connecting remotely via zoom

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and External Trade hosted an introductory session on Wednesday 28th April 2021 to kick off consultations for the Rapid Needs Assessment that is underway in Solomon Islands to identify the challenges and opportunities in implementing the Pacific Agreement on Closer Economic Relations (PACER) Plus. Bilateral consultations were held later in the afternoon with the respective stakeholders and will continue on the 5th and 6th of May 2021.

PS Collin Beck and HE Dr Lachlan Strahan in a photo shoot with the workers at the Pre-Departure Briefing, St. Barnabas Leafhut.

A total of 178 workers flew out of the country on Tuesday on two separate chartered flights to work in various Meat processing plants in New South Wales, Australia. The first group of workers left on the early hours of Tuesday morning while the other group departed in the afternoon.

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The Institute for International Trade (IIT) at the University of Adelaide, is consulting government, business and community stakeholders across the Pacific to identify trade-related development priorities of members from the new free trade agreement – the Pacific Agreement on Closer Economic Relations Plus (PACER Plus).

MFAET PS Mr Collin Beck, Deputy High Commissioner Ms Sally Anne Vincent and Christina Skoumbourdis from the Australian High Commission in a photo shoot together with the workers after the Pre-departure briefing at St. Barnabas Leaf hut.

92 workers are preparing to leave the country starting next week to work in Queensland, Australia under the Seasonal Work Program (SWP). The workers will be travelling in small groups separately on different dates and flights. They will be quarantined at their pre-arranged quarantine sites for 14 days before going to their respective farms where they will be working for the next 9 months.   

PS Beck and Christina & Vanessa from AHC with the workers after the Pre-departure briefing at St. Barnabas Leaf hut.

After weeks of preparation 144 workers flew out to Australia on Monday 22 March to start their new 9-month contracts working on farms across rural Victoria and Tasmania. The workers are a mix of those who have been on the program before and those just recruited now for the first time.

Permanent Secretary for MFAET Mr. Collin Beck handing over the lab equipment’s to the PS for MHMS Mrs. Pauline McNeil

The National Public Health laboratory (NPHL) has received SBD $140,000 worth of laboratory equipment and chemicals thanks to the Enhanced Integrated Framework (EIF) project.

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Solomon Islands has entered into an Interim Economic Partnership Agreement by a number of Pacific Island Countries with the United Kingdom, which has come into effect on 1 January 2021.

Officials During the Signing Ceremony

The Labour Mobility Unit (LMU) within the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and External Trade today signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the Pacific Labour Facility (PLF) on recruitment database.

Monica, Alice, Melvina and Helen with Robert and Deputy High Commissioner Walter Diamana (left)

Monica Wale, Alice Houtoro Tara, Melvina Saueha and Helen Tabe Poloso arrived in Brisbane on 7 March.  They were on Solomon Islands Airlines’ last scheduled flight before it folded its wings to help stop COVID-19 at the country’s border.  It was around the same time Australia’s federal and state governments closed their borders to control a worrying spread of COVID-19.