4 July 2016
Solomon Islands ready for investment: Australian Senior Trade Commissioner
Solomon Islands is a vibrant place to do business and offers emerging opportunities for Australian investors.
Australia’s Senior Trade Commissioner to PNG and Solomon Islands, Mr David Knapton, formed this positive view during a four-day visit to Honiara last week.
While two-way investment between Australia and Solomon Islands is growing, Mr Knapton believes even more business links between the two countries can be pursued.
During his visit, Mr Knapton met successful Solomon Islands businesses that are exporting to Australia and doing business worldwide, as well as Australian companies investing in the future of Solomon Islands.
He met with a range of companies engaged in the agriculture, tourism, manufacturing, financial services, fisheries, timber processing and energy sectors.
“The key theme across all my discussions with local businesses was the importance of diversification,” Mr Knapton said.
“Successful companies are pursuing a mix of business activities to grow their businesses and help manage the peaks and troughs of the market.”
“The other key theme was the importance of finding strong local partners. I’ll be taking this advice back to share with future Australian investors.”
Mr Knapton also met officials from the Solomon Islands Foreign Investment Division and was pleased to hear about their work to update the country’s foreign investment registry.
“Moving to an online foreign investment registry is a huge step forward and I congratulate the Foreign Investment Division Director, Derick Aihari, and his team for taking on this important work.”
Austrade is the trade and investment promotion arm of the Australian Government. It provides advice and information to prospective investors on overseas markets, including Solomon Islands. Austrade promotes Australian capabilities and builds connections through an extensive global network of contacts.
For more information about Austrade’s work visit http://www.austrade.gov.au/