OVERSEAS travel by government officials can be quite controversial at times and often comes under the microscope in the Pacific. More often than not, criticisms are not way off the mark. Not for Vanuatu’s former Minister of Agriculture David Tosul and his then Director-General Mr. Howard Aru; current Coordinator of PWA 2017.
The year was 2014, October 6 to 12 when they represented Vanuatu at the 13th Caribbean Week of Agriculture for the first time in Paramaribo, Surinam. That was when the idea of a Pacific Week of Agriculture was hatched. “We were at this luncheon.
The Minister leaned over to me and said, ‘DG what do you think if I propose that Vanuatu host something like this?’ “I said, I think that’s a great idea,” Mr Aru responded. The minister stood up during the course of the luncheon and publicly announced Vanuatu’s interest in hosting something similar to CWA. Partners picked up the declaration almost immediately and that was the birth of PWA. As they say, the rest is history.
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