Economy Archive May 2013

To recognize World No Tobacco Day, Head of the European Union mission in Solomon Islands, Eoghan Walsh tells his story of his battle to give up smoking.

With kerosene, diesel and coconut shells as sources of lighting for their homes, the residents of Kiu village on the island of Malaita in Solomon Islands were truly emotional when celebrating the completed installation of 180 solar home systems.

The Government will reinstate the ban on beche-de-mer at the end of this month while warning that anyone harvesting the marine resource after May 31st is regarded illegal.

The Solomon Islands Public Service Commission, in partnership with the Ministry for Women, Youth, Children and Family Affairs (MWYCFA), convened the first ever government-wide gender training for all permanent secretaries in the Solomon Islands government on Friday.

Provisional trade in goods balance for April 2013 registered a surplus of SBD$25 Million dollars from a revised deficit of SBD$108 million dollars in the previous month.

Residents of Santa Cruz Island in Temotu province hit by earthquakes and a tsunami in February have been forced to return to their flattened coastal settlement.

A hunt for millions of dollars in lost Japanese wartime gold worthy of a thriller movie plot is unfolding in the Solomon Islands.

The Papua New Guinea (PNG) community working and residing at Guadalcanal Plains Palm Oil Limited (GPPOL) today (Thursday) donated some items to the Nguvia Kindergarten and Ngalimbiu Kindergarten schools in East Guadalcanal.

The situation in Choiseul province is one that is becoming increasingly familiar to communities throughout the Pacific. Increased weather variability linked to climate change, including more droughts and more floods, is impacting livelihoods.

A Solomon Islander has been named as one of the inaugural participant of the Pacific Young Leaders on Disarmament.

City and health authorities in the Solomon Islands are calling for effective and consistent urban waste management as they battle to control a serious outbreak of dengue fever, the world’s fastest spreading vector-borne viral disease, which was identified in the country in February.

Solomon Islands tuna industry is growing and the Ministry of Fisheries is committed to ensure the country's tuna resources are sustainable, says the Ministry of Fisheries Permanent Secretary Dr Chris Ramofafia.

It’s like a shopping mall of the high seas, an Aladdin’s cave of treasures and most of all a wave of new opportunities for the Solomon Islands.

Solomon Airlines has announced the suspension of flights to Gizo from May 26 to August 21 due to the upgrading of the Nusatupe airstrip.

The European Union (EU) yesterday gave 178,900Euro to World Vision, providing much needed support for the Temotu tsunami relief response and recovery.

Solomon Islands will be treated to a solar eclipse on 10th May 2013 when a ring of fire will appear across a narrow band of locations.

The Minister for Finance and Treasury, Hon. Rick Hou has announced that the Solomon Islands Government (SIG) has increased excise duty for Tobacco products by 20%.

The number of confirmed dengue cases continues to rise and the National Referral Hospital (NRH) fear there could be increased fatalities due to a shortage at the blood bank.

Honiara will soon benefit from its own Australia-Pacific Technical College (APTC) campus following the launch of a SBD14 million (A$1.9 million) partnership between APTC and Honiara’s Don Bosco Technical Institute today.

Senior officials from Papua New Guinea and Solomon Islands have concluded the 3rd round of bilateral negotiations on the Investment Promotion Protection Agreement (IPPA) in Honiara, Solomon Islands. The meeting started on Monday and concluded on Tuesday 30 April 2013.

There is fear among the people of Savo Island of the possibility of a volcanic eruption once drilling to set up a geothermal system commences.