Contents

• Austrade – your business partner in the Pacific
• Fostering a strong business dialogue: Australia Papua New Guinea Business Council
• The Blue Economy – Boosting trade and investment across the Pacific
• Freight Assistance Package well received

Austrade – your business partner in the Pacific

Australia's connection to the countries of the Pacific region is deep and enduring. While New Zealand is often the first export market for Australian exporters, Pacific markets are a logical next step for Australian businesses that can provide products and services in demand in the Pacific.

It is essential to consider each market in the Pacific individually, as each Pacific Island country has its own regulations, business environment and opportunities. The pipeline of infrastructure projects in the Pacific, funded through bilateral and multilateral agreements are a magnet for Australian building, construction, and engineering businesses to develop operations in the region. Australian business often credit DFAT and Austrade support for their success in accessing these opportunities.

Hall Contracting has been operating in the Pacific for more than 15 years and has an office in Fiji. William Blank, Business Development Manager said “Austrade has facilitated valuable connections for us in the Pacific Islands, which has brought a number of dredging and climate change adaptation opportunities to our attention”.

Austrade continues to support Australian businesses by providing timely information on new opportunities through our Pacific webinar series and Pacific News.

Our partners, DFAT's Office of the Pacific and Export Finance Australia connect Australian businesses with private sector initiatives, such as the Australian Infrastructure Financing Facility for the Pacific and export lending facilities.

Austrade's Export Market Development Grants (EMDG) program helps Australian businesses grow their exports in Pacific markets. These grants encourage small to medium enterprises to market and promote their goods and services globally.

Australian capabilities are evident in mining and resources projects in Papua New Guinea and food and beverage operations in Fiji where the tourism sector drives demand for premium Australian products. This demand is expected to rebound when Fiji reopens its tourism sector.

There are also new opportunities in sectors such as health, where Austrade facilitated the supply of PPE and respirators into Papua New Guinea, and PPE and test laboratory supplies into Fiji earlier this year.

The opportunities for investment in health services is expected to continue after the current pandemic crisis is over with a surge in demand expected once borders between Pacific Islands reopen.

Another area of opportunity is in fintech products. MasterCard, Fintech Pacific and ygap have formed a partnership to provide women-led micro and small businesses in Fiji, including market stall holders, access to a tailored digital mobile phone payment system. 

Whether a company is an SME or the Australian entity of a global behemoth, the Austrade NZ Pacific team, as part of Team Australia, is your partner of choice in providing relevant information and connections to local partners, as well as programs and opportunities in Pacific markets.

For more information visit www.austrade.gov.au

Fostering a strong business dialogue: Australia Papua New Guinea Business Council

The Australia Papua New Guinea Business Council is in its fifth decade of representing Australian business investors and traders in Papua New Guinea and working to promote growth in the bilateral business and trade relationship.

The Council is a membership based not-for-profit association of businesses with interest in the Australia-Papua New Guinea bilateral business and economic relationship.  Members are based in Australia and Papua New Guinea and include large, medium, and small businesses. Most of the major Australian companies with investments and significant trading and services relationships in Papua New Guinea are members of the Council, but equally many medium and smaller sized companies in a range of business sectors are also members.

In partnership with the Business Council of Papua New Guinea, the Council arranges the only bilateral business event held between Australia and Papua New Guinea which alternates between Australia and Papua New Guinea, the Australia Papua New Guinea Business Forum and Trade Expo. In 2021, the 36th Australia Papua New Guinea Business Forum was held in Brisbane and online with 150 delegates present in Brisbane and 70 participating virtually.  Recognising the continued uncertainty of bilateral business travel, it has been agreed that the 2022 Business Forum will be held in Australia.

The Business Forum and Trade Expo brings together up to 400 business and government representatives to discuss business and investment policy and opportunities and features a trade expo. The Forum creates an engaged environment in which businesses in Australia and Papua New Guinea can meet frequently, kick-starting discussions between companies which can lead to investment and trading transactions.

The Council works closely with Austrade and the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade and their portfolio ministers. With the Business Council of Papua New Guinea, it represents business interests with ministers from both countries at the annual Australia Papua New Guinea Ministerial Forum, a bilateral meeting led by Foreign Ministers. The Business Dialogue provides an important opportunity for senior business representatives from Australia and Papua New Guinea to speak directly with ministers of both governments.

More information about the work of the Council is available by contacting the President, Mark Baker, at mark.baker@anz.com or the Executive Director, Frank Yourn, at frank@australiapacificbusiness.org.au or telephone +61 412 608 195.

The Blue Economy – Boosting trade and investment across the Pacific

The Australia Pacific Island Business Council (APIBC) is the peak body for Australian businesses working in the Pacific and has been promoting bilateral trade, investment relationships and economic and employment opportunities across the regions since 2000.

This year, the APIBC launched its Blue Economy platform focused on sectors driving jobs and investment opportunities in the Pacific.  The Blue Economy platform supports the Australian Government's goal for a Pacific region that is secure strategically, stable economically and sovereign politically. As the region's largest shared natural resource, fisheries have been adopted by the APIBC as a new sector under the Blue Economy. The sustainable success of our region's fisheries sector requires ports, shipping, cold storage, and supply chains, as well as leveraging new technologies and attracting venture capital. APIBC members recognise their commercial interests support Australia's strategic interests across one of the most pristine regions in the World.  

The Pacific Islands Forum Fisheries Agency (FFA) estimates illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing robs the region's economy of over $600m per year. The Australian Government takes IUU seriously, including through its $2 billion Pacific Maritime Security Program. The APIBC recognises the Australian Government's work with Pacific countries, regional organisations, and the multilateral development banks in ensuring the sustainability of stocks, extraction of greater long run income streams and improved market access. Fisheries is a sector where PACER Plus and the Australian Infrastructure Financing Facility for the Pacific (AIFFP) can interlock to drive opportunities. The APIBC is one of the best advocates for both initiatives.

Freight Assistance Package well received

Pacific Trade Invest (PTI) Australia's Freight Assistance Package was launched in late 2020 to support Pacific exporters in the wake of COVID-19. Since its inception the initiative has been extremely well received by Pacific exporters and continues to provide tangible relief to businesses in the Pacific during the unprecedented pressures presented by the COVID-19 economic crisis.

The package has seen over 40 successful applicants receive $2,500 per enterprise to offset any freight costs incurred.

The Freight Assistance Package was designed following the PTI Australia Pacific Islands Export Survey in early 2020, which revealed that freight costs were one of the top three barriers to export faced by Pacific businesses, a challenge that became further exacerbated when COVID-19 drastically impacted shipping routes and inflated costs.

Caleb Jarvis, PTI Australia's Trade and Investment Commissioner, said the feedback from the Freight Assistance Package has been overwhelmingly positive.

“We are so pleased to witness the incredible impact the Freight Assistance Package has had on SMEs in the Pacific, and it has been wonderful to see the grant has also been commended for both its efficiency and effectiveness by our Pacific colleagues and policymakers. During a time where the ongoing effects of COVID-19 have been immensely damaging to businesses in the Pacific, the Freight Assistance Package has enabled us to provide tangible and immediate support at a time it was needed most.”

The impact of the continued closure of international borders on Jessica Cassell's boutique social enterprise, Bilum and Bilas in PNG, has been immense. Now exporting internationally, Cassell says PTI Australia's COVID-19 Freight Assistance Package has provided the business with much-needed support and relief.

“In order to continue, our business has had to switch almost entirely to exporting our products internationally. We struggled to afford the additional cost involved in exporting our products to Australia. Receiving the Freight Assistance Package has significantly eased this pressure and means we can continue to pay staff wages and freight costs without going under.”

All recipients of PTI Australia's COVID-19 Freight Assistance Package must have a registered business in one of the Pacific Island Forum countries, be currently exporting to Australia or utilising eCommerce to ship globally, or be an Australian-based importer importing products from a registered Pacific Island business.

Founded in 1979, PTI Australia is an agency of the Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat. Funded by the Australian Government, it facilitates trade and investment in the Pacific Islands.