Latest News 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.

Acting Police Commissioner Junita Matanga says operations to hunt down Edmond Sae and other known fugitives will continue, “however long it will take.”

PFF | Rarotonga - Failing to intervene in a minor assault on reporters and smashing the phone of a young boy shows police in Samoa need training in freedoms enjoyed by all citizens, says the Pacific Freedom Forum.

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 Decision by the Regional Assistance Mission to Solomon Islands (RAMSI) to begin its transitional phase after 10 years of operation is because it respects the sovereignty of Solomon Islands, and also because it is simply not sustainable in the long run.

Press Statement - 28 May 2013 - The Government of Vanuatu will be able to access US$4,000,000 from the Pacific Environment Community (PEC) Fund to set up a solar powered desalination plant in East Ambae on the Penama Province and Aniwa in the Tafea Province of Vanuatu.

Twelve new Australian volunteers have arrived in Solomon Islands to begin their placements with government ministries, non-government organisations and community groups.

The Guadalcanal State Constitutional Committee (GSCC) has announced that it will commence its consultations throughout the province as of June this year.

Prime Minister Gordon Darcy Lilo describes his recent engagement in the Extractive Industries Transparency International, EITI, global conference in Sydney Australia as fruitful and a successful one.

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.

Solomon Islands High Commissioner to Malaysia, Victor Ngele has been commissioned on Friday, promising to render undivided loyalty to the Government and people of Solomon Islands.

A survey of the South Tarawa lagoon has revealed some potentially explosive secrets from its past as a major battleground of World War II. The survey was designed to identify battle debris that still litters the floor of the lagoon seventy years after the infamous Battle of Tarawa in 1943.

Prime Minister, Hon. Gordon Darcy Lilo will give a key note address at the 6th Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) Global Conference, in Sydney, Australia this week.

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.

With a blend of reggaeton, hip hop and pure Pacific soul reggae, 56 Hop Rod has shot to the top of the Pacific Top 20 with their catchy new song, “Secret Lover.”

Prime Minister Gordon Darcy Lilo says he is thrilled with the news that the United Nations General Assembly has voted to place French Polynesia back on the UN list territories that should be decolonized.

A recent finding in a World Bank report titled Skills for Solomon Islands, 'Opening New Opportunities,' finds that there is a mismatch between the demand for skills in current job opportunities and the supplied labour force.

SPC, through the European Union-funded Increasing Agricultural Commodity Trade (IACT) Project, has been working with seaweed farming communities in the Pacific to identify new export markets for their products.

Being told that she would never be able to make a living from art has done little to lessen Alisa Vavataga’s passion to paint.

A prominent dolphin exporter in the Solomon Islands says he plans to resume live-exports next month.

The Minister of Fisheries and Marine Resources Hon. Alfred Ghiro has hailed the recently concluded Forum Fisheries Committee 85 Meeting in Honiara, describing it as “constructive and collaborative”.

Prime Minister Gordon Darcy Lilo has welcomed a twenty million Kina assistance from his Papua New Guinea counterpart Peter O'Neill in Honiara on Friday.

An independent environment audit into Solomon Islands Gold Ridge Tailings Dam recommends that the Gold Ridge Mining Limited (GRML) should shut down its operations, install the water treatment plant and discontinue any further extraction of water from Chovohio River.

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.

Seven (7) Provincial Football Associations (PFAs) have met the deadline to confirm their participation in the three football disciplines for the upcoming 2013 Solomon Games competition.

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

The next four years of RAMSI’s police operations have been guaranteed with the allocation, announced in this week’s Australian budget, of nearly AUD$500 million in funding for the Regional Assistance Mission.

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.

The Australian budget for the coming 12 months sees an increase in budgetary support to the transition of the Regional Assistance Mission to Solomon Islands (RAMSI).

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.

Sir Ellison Pogo, former archbishop of the Anglican Church in Melanesia, died May 13 at his home in Honiara of lymphoma, which had been diagnosed while he was in Auckland during last October’s Anglican Consultative Council meeting.

Solomon Islands Economy is expected to grow by 4 percent in 2013, building on a strong performance in 2012.

The acting commissioner of the Royal Solomon Islands Police Force Juanita Matanga denies that the force is split over the departure of the former commissioner Englishman John Lansley.

Voter registration prior to the Western and Choiseul provincial elections this year will open on June 3 and elections likely to take place in September.

Acting Prime Minister Hon. Manasseh Maelanga today announced a major Government initiative to sponsor students studying at the Solomon Islands National University (SINU) this year.

For years, female survivors of domestic violence in the Solomon Islands have been afraid of saying anything in public, unable to find a way to stand up to the oppressive abuse they experience on a regular basis at home.

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.

A delegation from the Vanuatu National Provident Fund, consisting of its chairman, general manager and investment director are on a tour of the Solomon Islands National Provident Fund.

PFF | Rarotonga | Cook Islands - Charges of terrorism laid and dropped against a journalist in Vanuatu over a Facebook comment need independent investigation, states the Pacific Freedom Forum.

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%.

PRESS STATEMENT - 08th May 2013 - The Independent State of Samoa has achieved a significant milestone by becoming the first Forum Island Country to ratify the Pacific Island Countries Trade Agreement (PICTA) Trade in Services (TIS) Protocol.

Immigration and Foreign Affairs Officials are currently liaising with their counterparts in Tarawa, Kiribati to repatriate two I-Kiribati men who were rescued over the weekend.

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.

Life is difficult enough for communities on the remote southern Weather Coast of Guadalcanal in the Solomon Islands. Sustaining a livelihood from the land is a daily struggle on the steep coastal mountain slopes that plunge to the sea, made worse by the absence of adequate roads, transport and government services. And now, climate change is taking

SolTuna Fishing and Processing Ltd in Noro, Western Province, of the Solomon Islands may soon see changes and expansion to its current infrastructures worth USD$10 million (SBD$80m).

With growing public debate over the delay, and the subsequent unofficial release of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s (TRC) report, local academic based in Hawaii, Dr Tarcisius Tara Kabutaulaka, says pressure groups should have used the Courts.

Officers of the Royal Solomon Islands Police force (RSIPF) are threatening a two weeks sit-in protest if the Government fails to appoint a new police commissioner within the next three months.

Solomon Islands former Prime Minister, Manasseh Sogavare, says the Solomon Islands is satisfied that Fiji is on the right track to democracy.

Fr Terry Brown has told Radio Australia that he is not concerned about Prime Minister Gordon Darcy Lilo's recent statement, that upon his arrival his office will meet with the head of the Anglican Church.

The Commissioner of Inland Revenue Mark Bell on Tuesday has announced the launch of Inland Revenue’s Tax Compliance Focus for 2013 to 2015.

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.

Solomon Airlines has advised that it’s Airbus aircraft, H4-BUS will be ferried to Manila again to undergo maintenance, which was scheduled to start last month.