THE Solomon Islands Ambassador to the People’s Republic of China His Excellency Barrett Salato says coastal farmers in the Solomon Islands must engage in seaweed farming as it is the way forward in exports to China.
His Excellency Salato made this statement when hosting a Solomon Islands delegation that is currently attending the Academy for International Business Officials (AIBO) in Beijing.
He said seaweed farming is the next big market which Solomon Islands coastal farmers can tap into.
“Solomon Islands is not utilizing the Memorandum of Understandings [MOUs] signed with the People’s Republic of China.
“We signed a total of 36 MOUs so far but implementation is very slow.
“We must take advantage of their expertise, people to people exchanges, trade and not rely too much on aid,” Mr Salato said.
He added that building the Solomon Islands economy through trade is very important.
“…that’s why I’m here in Beijing, to negotiate bilateral trade agreements, SPS sanitary and phytosanitary export protocols which will enable our agriculture and fisheries products to be exported to China.
“I negotiated the access of priority product list, and now the market is open,” His Excellency Salato said.
He said the biggest problem facing Solomon Islands is production.
“We can’t produce these products and even if we do the volume can’t be sustained, to keep the market intact,” he said.
According to His Excellency Salato, one of the 36 MOUs signed was for the export of seaweed to the People’s Republic of China.
“Our previous seaweed exports out of Solomon Islands went through third countries like Malaysia or even Hong Kong before reaching China, as we didn’t have the protocol in place before, so the value dropped significantly so our people earn very small financial benefits in terms of the prices.
“But now they can export directly to China.
“We’ve asked Pacific Trade Invest China, who are helping Pacific Islands countries to find markets for their products, and we asked them to market assessment on seaweed and it’s been completed,” the Ambassador said.
He said logging is a sunset industry that will be gone in the next 5 years or more.
“… the only thing I’ve seen that can replace the logging industry is seaweed, if the Government put a massive program for the whole country to produce seaweed.
“I’m happy that the SI Government has put aside $10 million to start off, to implement to assist farmers but we must go big on this one. Log will one day be gone, and there is mining also but not good for our environment.
“So fisheries and agriculture sector can be developed and there is a market for it here in China.
“Those of you in Policy sector in the PMO coordinate with line ministries or sectoral ministries to build the supply capacity.”
He said the reason Solomon Islands need to concentrate on fisheries and agriculture is because this is where our people can participate, and the money goes right down to the people.
“…we must go aggressively into this.
“I really want our country to take advantage of the opportunities available here in China,” Mr Salato said.
