PM Manele Concludes Australia Visit

(MENAFN- EIN Presswire) PM Manele concludes Australia visit

PM Manele addresses a Press conference on arrival at the Honiara International Airport on Saturday

PM Manele greeted by Ministers on arrival

Prime Minister Jeremiah Manele returned home on Saturday following his first official visit to Australia since his election as Prime Minister in May this year.

Speaking at a media conference on arrival, Manele said the visit provided an opportunity to acknowledge and thank the Australian government and its people for all the assistance and support Australia has rendered to Solomon Islands over the past many years.

These includes the recent delivery of safe, secure, and transparent joint national, provincial, and Honiara city council elections and the successful hosting of the largest and the most successful Pacific Games, with security support from Pacific Islands Forum members (Australia, Fiji, New Zealand and Papua New Guinea).

Manele also used the visit to discuss with Prime Minister Albanese and his government ways to lift the current Solomon Islands-Australia relationship to another level, through transformational partnership.

“I stressed that Solomon Islands priority now, is the revitalization of our economy through transformative engagements in our productive and resource sectors to help drive our economy”.

“I emphasized our wish to work with all partners through our policy of 'friends to all and enemies to none' to achieve economic transformation. We discussed key priority areas that Australia may be able to assist Solomon Islands in,” Manele said.

Apart from meetings with his Australian counterpart, Prime Minister Manele was also given the honour to meet with other senior Leaders in Australia including the Honourable Deputy Prime Minister, the Minister for Foreign Affairs, the Attorney General, the Leader of the Opposition, the President of the Senate, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, and the Deputy Premier of Queensland State.

From these discussions, Manele said it is evident that Australia is committed and stands ready to transform the partnership between the two countries to new heights.

“We discussed areas that were also of concern to Australia such as security. I acknowledge the frankness of our discussions and on this note I acknowledged areas of Australia's concerns and advised that we are currently reviewing our national security strategy and national border security strategy after which we will then look at the future partnerships in the security space,” Manele explained.

Manele further emphasized that as a least developing country, Solomon Islands is looking at its security needs from a development perspective which goes beyond the conventional security to include non-conventional security threats including Climate Change, natural disasters, health epidemics and pandemics which will require a collaborative approach with many partners.

“I thanked Prime Minister Albanese and the Australian Government for his commitment to help grow the Royal Solomon Islands Police Force and we have agreed that our respective Ministers and Officials will further explore how this might be progressed. I also visited the Federal Police training facilities in Brisbane that have huge capacity to assist with police training in the region,” Manele said.

The Prime Minister also visited the Australian Border Force Headquarters in Canberra and was shown the capabilities they have to provide real-time 24-hour surveillance of Australian sea and airports, their EEZ and other areas of interest to then in Australia. Some of these capabilities are important for our border force agencies to consider going forward.

On labour mobility, Manele thanked the Australian Government for increasing numbers of Solomon Islanders engaged through the Pacific Australia Labour Mobility Scheme. It is a win-win program for Australia and Solomon Islands. The labour mobility scheme continues to touched the lives of our people.

“Labour Mobility continues to provide income for our workers and their families and revenue for the Government. As a government, our target is to reach 16,000 workers in 2028 to work in both the Pacific Australia Labour mobility scheme and the RSE for New Zealand scheme,” Manele said.

Currently there are around 6982 Solomon Islands workers participating in the PALM scheme, working in horticulture, age care, and the meat industry and so far, have remitted approximately SBD 247million into the Solomon Islands economy. PALM provides the short and immediate -term solution to unemployment while the government looks at increasing employment opportunities in the country.

On health, Manele thanked Australia for its willingness to help Solomon Islands in its quest to eliminate malaria by 2030 and eradicate by 2035 and to also work with Solomon Islands on ways to halt ad reverse the NCD epidemic.

On infrastructure as a driver for economic development, Manele thanked the Australian government for its commitment to delivering priority infrastructure through its longstanding economic and development partnership.

“I presented and sought support for one of our potentially transformative infrastructure projects – the Bina Habour Development Project, which has the potential to transform our economy but also stands as a key social development and a long-term peace and security project,” Manale said.

The Prime Minister concluded his engagements with the Deputy Premier, Treasurer, and Minister for Trade and Investment for Queensland, the Hon. Cameron Dick.

The deputy Premier acknowledged that Brisbane is the gateway for Solomon Islands into Australia and out of Australia and was very keen to establish and or formalize relationships in whatever sector Solomon Islands may see value in including in Education, Health, Trade, Sports to name a few.

The deputy Premier also responded very positively to Manele's suggestion of establishing a 'sister-relationship' between the City of Brisbane and Honiara.

“I have tasked our High Commissioner and our Consul General to work with respective ministries on a framework of agreement we can discuss with the Queensland Government on potential areas of cooperation between Queensland and Solomon Islands and between Brisbane City and Honiara city,” Manele explained.

Manele explained that the GNUT is keen to build a prosperous, united, and resilient nation by seeking assistance from our partners to assist us in achieving our aspirations.

“Australia has been our partner of choice since our political independence and currently support the largest development and security cooperation programs in Solomon Islands. I look forward to further enhancing this relationship and my visit to Australia is a testament of our partnership that reflects our long history of friendship,” Manele said.

Next on the Prime Minister's upcoming international engagements include visits to China and Japan and later in the year I will also participate in other key regional and international engagements including the MSG leaders meeting, the Pacific Islands Forum Leaders Meeting, the United Nations General Assembly and the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting.

All these visits aim to enhance the standing of Solomon Islands regionally and internationally as a developing Island nation under our foreign policy objective of 'friends to all and enemies to none'.

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