Kreetika Kumar 
[Source: Pacific Islands Forum/ Facebook]
The Pacific Islands Forum Trade Ministerial Meeting primarily focuses on current developments and evolving trends in the joint efforts to address global trade opportunities.
Speaking during the Ministerial meeting in Suva this morning, Pacific Islands Forum Secretary General Henry Puna says the discussions will focus on updates on private sector development, labor mobility, and progress in the Forum’s Pacific Trade and Investment network.
The leaders will head to the Cook Islands in November with the outcomes from this meeting.
Puna says the ministerial meeting will cover the state of regional trade and investment, current and emerging opportunities, and the challenges of supply chain disruptions.
“Our diverse economic and trade-related interests are as unique and distinct as our national identities. I am confident that, despite these differences, we will seek out our common and shared interests to catapult our regional trade agenda to the next level after this meeting.”
Puna says the issues are deep, complex, and challenging and require a shift from ‘business-as-usual’ approaches.
The Secretary-General has emphasized that trade partnerships must yield sustainable benefits, and a deeper focus on effectively rolling out the 2050 Strategy in a trade context.
He adds the theme of this year’s meeting underscores the importance of the engine room of trade, private sector, and the pivotal role they play in leveraging trade and investment to grease the wheels in the implementation of the 2050 Strategy for the Blue Pacific Continent.
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