Strengthening regional solidarity

The Pacific Islands Forum Fisheries Agency (FFA) hopes to help countries such as Fiji increase its global market access through a three-week training in Fiji for technical officers and fisheries industry representatives.

The Increasing Employment and Economic Benefits from Tuna Fisheries (IEEBTF) program is the only formal organised training that provides the foundation for the development of a competent authority, the agency that is responsible for the certification and verification of fishery products in a country.

With plans to diversify Fiji’s economy, a keener interest than usual is placed on the local agriculture and fisheries sectors with an aim to empower and uplift MSME (micro, small and medium enterprise) owners within these sectors.

This project builds towards FFA’s mission to strengthen national capacity and regional solidarity so its 17 members can manage, control and develop their tuna fisheries now and in the future.

The member countries are Australia, Cook Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, Kiribati, Marshall Islands, Nauru, New Zealand, Niue, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tokelau, Tonga, Tuvalu, Vanuatu and Fiji.

The training is supported by the European Union (EU) and the Government of Sweden funded Pacific-European Union Marine Partnership (PEUMP) Program and the New Zealand Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade (MFAT).