Pacific

SPTE organisers, the South Pacific Tourism Organization’s (SPTO) Chief Executive Ratu Ilisoni Vuidreketi said the popular tourist destination was chosen due to the request and feedback from private sector members in the Pacific region.

It’s the third year for the event to be held and coincides with other major events such as the Australian Tourism Exchange that will take place a week prior.

The Red Cross has been working with governments since May when meteorologists began warning that this southern summer could see a major El Nino - a disruptive oscillation of the weather patterns brought about by a coupling of warmer than usual waters and atmospheric pressure changes in the Pacific.

Food security problems could affect Pacific island nations for the next 18 months, Red Cross international and disaster management manager Andrew Mackie told Xinhua.

A World Bank study suggests the region has the potential to create thousands of jobs in the offshoring, online outsourcing and other IT-related industries.

Optimistic scenarios in the report found that as many as 27,000 jobs could be created across Fiji, Samoa and Tonga.

Fa'alavelave is the Samoan tradition where family and friends contribute money or gifts to major events – pulling together to support those closest to you.

Far from a Samoan concept alone, many of the Pacific Islands adopt this communal culture based on everyone chipping in. 

He and a number of colleagues from around the world released a statement at the WTO Ministerial Conference in Nairobi, saying fishing subsidies need to be eliminated, as they impact on trade, the environment and development.

McClay says fishing subsidies is particularly a development issue in the Pacific.

Total playing numbers throughout Oceania in 2015, including New Zealand and Australia, reached one point one million.

The Get Into Rugby program was rolled out in the Pacific last year after being initially piloted in Tonga.

These handicrafts are often bought by tourists as a cultural memento of the Pacific Country they visited.

Irrespective of size, woven mats and tapa cloths are permitted into New Zealand. However, up until recently, a requirement for these goods to be accompanied by a Phytosanitary Certificate verifying the absence of live insects and other materials of quarantine concern. This requirement attracts additional costs which have discouraged tourists from purchasing these handicrafts.    

The agreement includes several key elements that are of particular importance to the Pacific region, including recognition for pursuing a temperature goal of 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre industrial levels, a strengthened mechanism for loss and damage, and the provision for scaled up and simplified access to climate finance for small island developing states.

The Agreement includes several key elements that are of particular importance to the Pacific region, including recognition for pursuing a temperature goal of 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre industrial levels, a strengthened mechanism for loss and damage, and the provision for scaled up and simplified access to climate finance for small island developing states.

The Council of Regional Organisations of the Pacific (CROP) agencies have been working as “One Team” to support Pacific island countries with technical assistance during the lengthy negotiation process.

A report by the PC has found that in some Pacific nations as many as 52 per cent of boys aged between 13 and 15 are smoking.

Nations with high teenage smoking rates include Papua New Guinea, Tonga, Samoa and Kiribati.