THE Minister of Foreign Affairs and External Trade, Hon. Jeremiah Manele paid a courtesy visit to the Acting Premier of Malaita Province, Randol Sifoni yesterday in Auki, Malaita Province.
Minister Manele is in Auki to officially hand over a Taro Pack-house to the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock today (MAL) Wednesday 5th April 2023.
The Minister used the visit to brief the Acting Premier on the funding arrangements that enabled the successful construction and completion of the Taro pack-house at Adeliua, in the Fiu river area.
The Pack-house is fully funded by the World Trade Organization (WTO) through the Enhanced Integrated Framework (EIF) Programme.
In the Solomon Islands the funding is provided through the EIF-Enhanced Capabilities of Agriculture Trade (ECAT) project under the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and External Trade.
The Minister also briefed the Premier on the recent discussions held at the Least Developed Countries (LDC) Summit in Doha, Qatar and Solomon Islands request for extension to its graduation mandate in 2024.
Apart from those issues, the acting Premier enquired on the Labour Mobility Scheme and the latest update on how far the Ministry, through External Trade has gone into managing the recruitment drive carried out in the recent past.
Minister Manele spoke of the benefits of the program in addressing the high unemployment rate in the Solomon Islands, however, mentioning that such a scheme should only be temporary and not deviate from the goal of creating jobs for Solomon Islanders in-country in the long term.
Minister Manele and officials from his Ministry are in Auki to handover the pack house today. Senior officials from the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock as well as the Provincial government will attend the program.
