The importance of branding, cost-effective packaging, dealing with logistics and effective supply chain management were topics discussed at a workshop for exporters from Fiji and the Pacific last month. More than 80 businesses attended the event. The two-and-a-half day Pacific Path to Market workshop addressed market compliance constraints and highlighted specific solutions to enhance exporters’ capacity. The workshop was designed as an export capability building initiative to help export ready and export capable businesses enter new markets. The workshop’s content combined the range of export facilitation services provided by the Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat’s trade and investment office, Pacific Islands Trade & Invest, with a wide spectrum of expertise from relevant businesses and organisations. Pacific Islands Trade & Invest brought industry experts and international speakers from China and New Zealand to give a firsthand account of doing business in these markets. Among the speakers were branding, logistics, supply chain and packaging experts besides direct importers from China and New Zealand. More than 50 one-on-one meetings were held between the participants, the international speakers, the trade commission’s staff and Pacific Islands Forum officials. As a result, participants were able to establish contacts with potential buyers and suppliers for their products during the event. Speaking at the workshop, Pacific Islands Forum Secretary General Neroni Tuiloma Slade said island countries needed to strategise well and tap into fast growing markets. “The growth potential of the Asian market provides the region promising and lucrative opportunities,” he said.
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