THE Western Provincial Government (WPG) is finalising a ten-year economic corporation framework to be submitted to the Fujian Province of China.
Western Provincial Premier Billy Veo announced this on Monday at the opening of the weeklong Full Assembly meeting.
“We are also finalising our Western Province Economic Cooperation 2024 – 2034 Framework which we will be submitting to Fujian Province for their perusal and feedback,” he said.
He explained the framework intends to capture the province’s key resources, priority areas or sectors for investment, available land, as well as other contextual information about Western Province so that it gives them a fair idea of what the province have and what potentials there maybe for investments.
“The key productive sectors include fisheries, agriculture, forestry – reafforestation and downstream processing, tourism and other value-added initiatives.
“On the social front, education and health have been prioritised,” he added.
He informed all the 26 Members of the Provincial Assembly (MPA) that an invitation may soon be extendd to the Fujian Province for a visit to Western Province.
“I can confidently say that things are progressing well and we hope that we can be able to invite those in Fujian Province to come and see first-hand what Western Province is like and hopefully identify potential investment opportunities,” he said.
Premier Veo said, the sister-relations arrangement with Fujian Province was formalised in July this year with the Minister of Provincial Government & Institutional Strengthening signing on Western Provincial Government’s behalf.
He also highlighted that one of the challenges expressed by many of the Provincial Premiers was how they can be able to establish connection with respective sister provinces so that the broad memorandum of understanding (MOU) provisions can be translated into workable sectoral sub-agreements for implementation.
He said, the Solomon Islands Ambassador to PRC, through the Solomon Islands Embassy Office in PRC has assured the Premiers that they will take up that role and will be the focal point for initiating contact and facilitating a platform for communication and exchange of information.
Meanwhile, a Western Provincial Development Specialist has already left for China on an invitation.
“Fujian Province has also extended its invitation to us and in November, we will also send our provincial representative to attend a program for all countries and provinces who have established ties with them,” he said.
By MOFFAT MAMU
