Chris Addy-Nayo, a member of the NDC, has called for collaboration between African and Pacific Island Countries Universities. He made the call at the 2nd EU-Pacific Business Forum held in Port Vila, the capital of the South Pacific Island country of the Republic of Vanuatu.
The 2nd EU-Pacific Business Forum which took place from the 25th-27th June, 2014 brought together Senior Pacific Africa Caribbean, Australian, New Zealand and European Commission Officials, representatives and Chief Executive Officers from various Pacific and European private sector organisations, Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the Academic Community, Investment Promotion Centres, the Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat and United Nations agencies such as UNIDO.
The Forum seeks to promote economic sectors in the Pacific, which are able to contribute to the attainment of wider social objectives of Pacific countries and leads to EU- Pacific investments and partnerships. This is expected to be achieved by fostering a business-enabling environment in Pacific States through improved legislation, institutional frameworks and financial measures for the private sector.
Contributing to a discussion forum with UNIDO on research, innovation and technology, Mr. Addy-Nayo, a member of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) Buem/Jasikan Constituency stated that within the context of African, Caribbean and Pacific relationships the two regions has lots to learn from each other in relation to global challenges such as climate change, agriculture development, renewable energy, small-scale economies and the empowerment of women. He asked for collaboration between Academic Institutions from both regions to share their knowledge, exchange of experiences and best practices to deal with some of these 21st Century global challenges. He also called for government investments in Research and development to encourage green economies to minimise the impacts of Climate change on developing economies.
Countries of the Pacific Island countries include Australia, Cook Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, Fiji, Kiribati, Nauru, New Zealand, Niue, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Republic of Marshall Islands, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Tuvalu and Vanuatu
The 2nd EU-Pacific Business Forum was organised with the support of the Brussels-based EU-ACPBusinessClimate Facility, the Pacific Island Private Sector Organisation (PIPSO) and the Government of the Republic of Vanuatu.
Source: GhanaWeb
