NEWSPAGE 05 April
2010

(Photos: eventpolynesia.com)

SAMOA: Samoa Tourism Authority Updates
Source: Samoa Tourism Authority Press Release

Tourism Marketing Taskforce meets in New Zealand

Cabinet approved the participation by the Tourism Marketing Taskforce of a meeting in Auckland New Zealand, 31st March 2010.

This meeting was to discuss Marketing Programs and Promotions. It also looked at the financial year ending 2009/2010 and beginning of the next financial year 2010/2011 for Polynesian Blue, Air New Zealand, Air Pacific and the Hotel Association.

This Task Force Committee was established five years ago to discuss ways to promote and share issues concerning the economy of countries where tourists originate from.

Participants at the meeting included members of the Tourism Marketing Taskforce, representatives from Airlines and the Hotel Association. Representatives from the Samoa Government include Deputy Prime Minister, Afioga Misa Telefoni; Samoa Tourism Authority General Manager, Matatamalii Sonja Hunter; and STA Marketing Manager, Dwayne Bentley.


UNDP - Samoa Tourism Authority Early Recovery partnership

The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and Samoa Tourism Authority (STA) have joined forces to implement the Samoa Government Early Recovery Framework post tsunami with focus on Eco-tourism and related activities.

This program is in line with STA’s own efforts to establish a ‘Green Samoa’. STA is confident that with UNDP’s guidance, it can continue Samoa’s success in community tourism development as has been seen over the past 10-15 years.

UNDP has already pledged its financial support assistance by building the resilience of the communities affected through support to livelihoods including the tourism sector. It is now beginning to provide its on-the-ground support to building sustainable livelihoods with particular focus on Manono Tai Island, focusing on building a sustainable livelihood there with the intention of replicating such interventions in other tsunami affected villages.

This initiative supports STA’s task of establishing a recovery plan of action that would reshape and reposition the tsunami affected tourism areas to lead Samoa in responsible tourism development. The Recovery Samoa Support Programme was launched last Friday 26th March 2010 at Manono Tai. STA, UNDP and other relevant authorities participated in this special occasion.


NBC competition entries close end of April 2010

Entries for the National Beautification Competition 2010 will close at the end of this month, April 2010. The National Beautification Competition is administered by the Samoa Tourism Authority’s National Beautification Committee.
 

(Photo: Australia Pacific Technical College)

AUSTRALIA: A job well done in Vanuatu
Source: Australia Pacific Technical College

Prime Minister of Vanuatu, Mr Edward Natapei, and Australian Parliamentary Secretary for International Development Assistance, Mr Bob McMullan, congratulated teachers and students of the Australia Pacific Technical College (APTC) for a job well done at a recent function at the Australian High Commissioner's residence.

The APTC Trainers, and students enrolled in Certificate III Commercial Cookery (full time), Certificate III Hospitality Operations (part time) and Certificate IV Hospitality Supervision (part time), were responsible for the preparation and serving of the food, which showcased Vanuatu beef at its finest.

The function was held to announce an Enterprise Challenge Fund grant of A$1.3million to Sarami Plantations.

As well as having an intake of new students, the APTC training salon Totoka Hair Designers has newly appointed trainer and salon manager Kylie Kersel at the helm.

Photo Caption: Mr Edward Natapei, Prime Minister of Vanuatu, (third from left) and Mr Bob McMullan, Australian Parliamentary Secretary for International Development Assistance, (fifth from left) with APTC staff and students.
 

PAPUA NEW GUINEA: K750,000 Easter present from BSP for School Kriket
Source: Solomon Star

Papua New Guinea’s largest retail bank, the Bank South Pacific (BSP), has bowled in K750,000 for the “School Kriket” program at the official launching in Port Moreby last week.

Organised by Cricket PNG (CPNG) this program to be known as “BSP School Kriket”, is targeted at reaching as many as 50,000 children both male and female between the ages of 10 years old to 16 years old.

The sponsorship, worth K250,000 annually, will run for the next three years, and is aimed at reaching PNG children throughout the country with the assistance of BSP branches nationwide.

The sponsorship will not just cover traditional cricket stronghold areas, but reach out to many provinces in the Highlands, Momase, Southern and New Guinea Islands - areas where Cricket needs nurturing.

In 2010, “BSP School Kriket” will cover 50 schools in NCD, and 20 Schools in 12 other provinces.

Each of these provinces “BSP School Kriket” program will be managed by designated PNG Cricket regional managers.

BSP chief executive officer Ian B. Clyne said BSP, as the nation’s leading and largest bank is proud to support the BSP School Kriket program.

Clyne highlighted that BSP is a bank that “believes in making a difference”, BSP is now one of the major sponsors of sports and community programs specifically those aimed at the children and youth of PNG, and the Pacific.

BSP commended CPNG for their professionalism and enthusiasm in terms of its new cricket development program.

“It is BSP’s hope that more young talents, especially from the non-traditional cricket areas will soon be discovered, and will lead to PNG becoming a regional powerhouse in cricket within the next five to 10 years,” Clyne said. Apart from the annual K250, 000, BSP will also be assisting with additional customised equipments for children such as bats, balls and stumps.

BSP will also provide uniforms for the children and PNG Cricket personnel.

Both BSP and PNG Cricket are also optimistic that by the end of 2011 a total of 100,000 children will have participated in this program. “BSP believes that nothing is impossible, and is committed to playing its part in this partnership with PNG Cricket in realising that dream,” Clyne added.

BSP has been a stern supporter of sports for children, and continues to support other initiatives such as BSP Regional Tennis program that has seen thousands of children nationwide come to “learn and love” tennis, in PNG.

CPNG general manager Bill Leane and CPNG chairman Mick Nades who were present to witness the launching at the Wardstrip Primary school on Wednesday thanked BSP for their tremendous support in helping to develop cricket across the county.
 

(Photo: Solomon Times)

SOLOMON ISLANDS: Concerns voiced over Australia's PACER plus commitment
Source: Solomon Times

Solomon Islands' Foreign Minister William Haomae says Australia is still not listening to Pacific Island countries when it comes to talks on PACER plus.

Mr Haomae is the lead negotiator representing the 13 Pacific Island nations that are involved in PACER Plus.

His comments come after the Pacific's Chief Trade Advisor (CTA), Chris Noonan, finally took up his post in Vanuatu this week, five months after his appointment was announced.

The chief trade advisor's role is crucial because of its role to give independent advice to Pacific nations as they face up their powerful neighbours Australia and New Zealand in negotiations for the proposed free trade agreement.

Mr Haomae says it is a positive step.

"We have waited for some time for the appointment of the Chief Trade Advisor. It should have been the priority of the Pacific Island's Forum, the Secretariat, and the Pacific Island countries."

"It is a priority issue as decided by the leaders in Cairns and also the trade ministers meeting in Brisbane."

Earlier this year, Mr Haomae, wrote a stinging letter to the Secretary-General of the Pacific Islands Forum secretariat.

In the letter, he accused the secretariat, an organisation which represents Australia and New Zealand as well as the Island nations, of delaying the appointment of the Pacific's chief trade advisor and trying to undermine the independence of his office.

But Mr Haomae says he's now happy with the current arrangements.

"On the onset I think the independence of the CTA was the very reason why the office was conceptualized, so that it would become independent from the Pacific Islands Forum. I think I'm happy with the independence of the OCTA," he said.

But the Solomon Islands Foreign Minister is not so happy about suggestions that the Chief Trade Advisors Office does not have the budget to travel to all the Island nations that need his advice.

And he says the Office's governing Board should meet as soon as possible to deal with the problem.

The region's trade officials are due to get together in mid-April for their next PACER plus talks and that will be followed at the end of the month by a full Trade Ministers Meeting.

Mr Haomae is one of a number of Pacific Trade Ministers concerned that Australia and New Zealand are pushing the pace of the talks too fast.

"Solomon Islands have a concern that we are not being listened to in terms of our suggestions on the scheduling of meetings and also what agenda should be on those meetings."

Before Pacific governments can begin negotiations on PACER Plus they need to hold national consultations with the private sector and community groups to find out what the benefits and dangers of the new trade agreement might be and what they need to do to get the best deal.

Solomon Islands is one of the bigger Pacific countries and it has not yet finalized the structure for its national consultations - once those consultation get under way it is likely to take 12 months to come up with a formal negotiating position.

But Mr Haomae has concerns about his country's ability to hold those consultations.

"We have capacity constraint problems. I have only five trade officers and if most of the them are out of the country, then I would have problems putting into place the structure for the PACER plus national consultations."

Photo Caption: Solomon Islands Foreign Minister William Haomae.
 

(Photos: Voxy News)

WOLDWIDE: Winners of “Vision Pasifika: Climate Change” media awards
Source: Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme Press Release

Three Pacific Journalists have been commended by SPREP, having won awards in the very first “Vision Pasifika: Climate Change” Media tribute to recognise the role of Pacific reporters in raising awareness in environment issues.

The award is part of the media outreach by the Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme (SPREP) that encourages partnerships with Pacific media to help strengthen their role in raising awareness in sustainable environment concerns.

Mr. Anish Chand has won the television category for his news story “Pacific Politics and Climate Change” which was broadcast on Fiji One’s Close Up. He has also won the best overall category.

Mr. Moffat Mamu has won the print category for his news story “Our Final Chance”, printed in the Solomon Star News.

Ms. Rachna Lal and Ms. Kalpana Prasad have won the student category for their story “Coral reef destruction continues unabated” which is published by students of the USP Journalism Division.

No entries were submitted for the Radio award.

“I think all the entries were good in their own rights but since it was a competition, we needed to pick the best entries,” said Espen Ronneberg SPREP’s Climate Change Adviser.

“Congratulations to the winners and also huge commendation to those who submitted entries.”

Over 30 news items were entered in the competition for judging before a panel which consisted of a member from the Pacific Islands News Association (PINA) and PACNEWS, WWF South Pacific Programme Office and SPREP. The “Vision Pasifika: Climate Change” Media Award was a partnership between SPREP and WWF, supported by PINA and PACNEWS.

“We’re really pleased with both the calibre of submissions, as well as the amount of entries we received,” said Nanette Woonton, SPREP’s Associate Media and Publications Officer.

“SPREP would like to encourage members of our Pacific media to continue writing environment news reports. We plan to ensure this award is a continuous one focusing on the different environment aspects, as we’d like to be able to pay tribute to our media that produce excellent work.”

Winning entries receive USD 500 each, including USD 500 for the best overall category. While this is the first award, it is hoped that future awards will promote Pacific media to cover more environment stories in their countries.

“I would encourage the reporters to learn more about climate change try and apply their knowledge to their local situations and try and come up with some innovative stories to really demonstrate how climate change is impacting their communities,” said Ronneberg.


Meet the winners:

Mr. Anish Chand - Winner of the Television Category and the Best Overall Category

Anish Chand is currently the Team Leader News at Fiji Television Limited, with 13 Journalists working under his supervision. He has been associated with Fiji TV since 2003 when he started as a Sports Journalist, and slowly climbed the ranks to lead the Newsroom.

Anish also produces major one-off events for Fiji TV and is well exposed to all functions involved in the production of TV current affairs shows, documentaries, debates and sports events.

He was the Producer of the 2003 South Pacific Games for Fiji TV and also led the coverage of the 2006 Fiji General Elections. In addition Anish also hosts the weekly Close-Up current affairs show which is rated 9th overall as the most watched programme in Fiji. Average viewer ship is 77 percent of the population.

He holds a Diploma in Journalism from University of the South Pacific in Fiji.

Mr. Moffat Mamu - Winner of the Print Category

Moffat Mamu is business reporter with the Solomon Star news paper based in Honiara, Solomon Islands.

He has been a full time reporter with the paper after graduating from the University of the South Pacific (USP) in 2004 where he attained his Bachelor of Arts (BA) degree majoring in Journalist and History/Politics.

For the last five years Moffat has led the business section of the newspaper. Although a business writer, his interest is in feature writing which included issues related to climate change. His work was last recognized by the Asian Development Bank Institute (ADBI) based in Tokyo, a sister organization of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) which saw him win an award on Climate Change.

Ms. Kalpana Prasad and Ms. Rachna Lal - Winners of the Journalism Student Category

Kalpana Prasad is a 22 year old who will graduate with her Bachelor of Arts degree in journalism and tourism studies in April this year. She is currently working as the Community Media officer for FemLINKPACIFIC a feminist based Non Government Organisation in Fiji which uses Media as an empowerment tool for the women at the grassroots level.

Kalpana has received numerous awards for articles in Wansolwara that she has written with fellow students, including the best feature story for 2009 and the All Media Achievement Award for excellent performance in all 3 forms of media: Radio, Television and Print.

She has also had the opportunity to work as an attaché with the Secretariat of the Pacific Community during the Pacific Youth Festival in Fiji and as a cadet journalist for an online media organisation, Fijilive.com.

Rachna Lal is a 22 year old who is also graduating with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Journalism and Literature and language in April this year. She is now working with Fijilive, an online based news organisation.

Rachna won an award in 2008 for the best feature story in Wansolwara and in 2009 was awarded with the best journalism student accolade.

In 2009 Rachna was elected to represent USP journalism at the AIBDS Conference in Denarau Fiji, she was selected to take part in the SPREP climate change media training in September 2009 and was also part of the Pacific Communications team during the climate change Conference of the Parties meeting in Copenhagen in December 2009.

Photo Captions:

Photo 1 - (L-R) Mr. Anish Chand - Winner of the Television Category and the Best Overall Category; Mr. Moffat Mamu - Winner of the Print Category.

Photo 2 - (L-R) Ms. Kalpana Prasad and Ms. Rachna Lal - Winners of the Journalism Student Category.