Regions we visit

Tradelinked visits Pacific regions working with the respective Chambers of Commerce & Industry, as well as local businesses,  in a cooperative and productive way to enhance trading opportunities.

Regions we visit:

Bougainville

Lae

Port Moresby

Solomon Islands

The Autonomous Region of Bougainville is a Province in Papua New Guinea. The population of Bougainville is around 300,000. Bougainville covers an area of 9,318km, and is the largest island in the Solomon’s archipelago, but has been part of what is now Papua New Guinea since 1920.

Recent years has seen the partnership between Australia and Papua New Guinea (PNG) (including Bougainville) start to mature from an aid relationship to an economic partnership.  In Bougainville this economic partnership is focused on:

• Growing and diversifying primary industry production;
• Improving the investment climate and business environment; and
• Strengthening trade links and inward and domestic investment.

There are opportunities in Bougainville for innovative businesses – for example skills development in the areas of agribusiness; small business; governance and tourism.  Tradelinked Cairns-PNG-Pacific continues to work towards fostering relations between the business communities of Bougainville and Cairns through its inbound and outbound business delegations.

Tradelinked Cairns-PNG-Pacific has been active in the Lae market for a number of years through its facilitation of business delegations to Lae and as a host to Lae businesses and dignitaries visiting Cairns.   This activity has supported a Memorandum of Agreement between Lae and Cairns recognizing a Sister Cities status under the Cairns Regional Council’s Sister City Program.  Lae was recently highlighted as one of four key growth cities in Papua New Guinea, with a busy port; close proximity to the Highlands and an international airport scheduled to open in 2020, Lae is a city ready for business and investment.

Visiting Lae in October each year offers our business delegations the opportunity to be part of the Australian Government’s Pavilion at the annual Morobe Agriculture Show, a great place to promote products and services to a wide community and business base.  Tradelinked Cairns-PNG-Pacific works closely with the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) and Austrade each year to ensure positive outcomes for our respective businesses.

Cairns has a long term relationship with Port Moresby being the closest international airport to the City. Cairns has the largest population of Papua New Guineans outside of PNG – approximately 10,000 live in Cairns, many of whom travel to and from Port Moresby. Tradelinked has a very active business networking group in Port Moresby with monthly networking events every third Tuesday in the month. These events regularly attract 150+ businesses. Cairns and Port Moresby will continue to share business; cultural and sporting connections into the future for the benefit of both regions.

Solomon Islands consists of six major islands and over 900 smaller islands in Oceania lying to the east of Papua New Guinea and northwest of Vanuatu and covering a land area of 28,400 square kilometers.  The country’s capital, Honiara, is located on the island of Guadalcanal.

Approximately a 3 hour flight to the north-east of Brisbane, Solomon Islands offers good opportunities for business in areas such as infrastructure, services, tourism, sustainable forestry, agri-industry, and fisheries.

Solomon Airlines has boosted tourism opportunities by offering a direct air service from Brisbane to Munda, Western Province.   Air Niugini also offers weekly flights from Cairns to Solomon Islands via Port Moresby.

The Tina River hydro power project near Honiara has commenced its construction phase.  The commencement on 1 July 2019 of the Australian Infrastructure Financing Facility for the Pacific also creates opportunities for Australian companies to bid for infrastructure projects in Solomon Islands.

The completion of the Coral Sea Undersea Cable and its expected commencement by February 2020, will create new opportunities for growth in Solomon Islands of internet related business.  The planned upgrade of Honiara’s Henderson Airport is now also close to commencement.

Recent economic growth has been around 3%.  The economy has been boosted by strong copra, coconut oil, fish, cocoa and mineral (mainly bauxite) exports, which has kept real GDP high. The main economic drivers are logging, agriculture, fishing, construction, manufacturing plus tourism-related sectors such as accommodation and food services, retail trade and transport.

The logging industry accounts for around 70 per cent of export earnings and 10 per cent of government revenue, but is expected to decline, with the Solomon Islands Government looking at Tourism along with other potential sectors, as the sources of revenue to more aggressively pursue.