The exporters from the Cook Islands, Kiribati, Palau, Niue, Tuvalu and the Republic of Marshall Islands, spent the day familiarising themselves with the knowledge and processes involved in exporting their unique and exotic products to the New Zealand market.

The day began with a series of workshops on branding, promotion, marketing and leveraging social media. The highlight of the day was the media interaction and noted chef John Oyagawa’s live presentations using these exotic ingredients from across the Pacific.

The delegates were individually and collectively interviewed by several journalists both from the mainstream and the Pacific media besides food writers. Media representation included print, online, radio and television media.

Chef John is of Pacific descent and runs the popular O Café and O Catering Company. He explained the intricacies of each of the goodies he rustled up using Pandanus juice from the Marshall Islands, vanilla from Niue, a range of liqueurs made from banana, coconut and even chilli from the Cook Islands, besides coconut products from Tuvalu.

Over the next few days of their weeklong sojourn in New Zealand, the delegation will attend workshops on NZ import regulations and processes to understand some of the technical barriers to trade, sanitary and phytosanitary requirements. They will also make site visits to biosecurity and customs departments, private sector importers and buyers, chefs and hospitality industry representatives to gain insights into the industry trends and opportunities from importers, distributors and retailers.

Pacific Islands Trade & Invest (PT&I) New Zealand organised the Pacific Islands Small Islands States Food & Beverage Exploratory Mission (9-13 November 2015) in association with the Pacific Integration Technical Assistance Programme (PITAP) under the European Union.

The mission is the first PT&I Small Island States trade delegation to visit New Zealand for several years. The tailor made programme is industry-specific focused on the food and beverage industries.

The delegates comprise representatives from Te Winery & Distillers Limited, Cook Islands; K-Organic Producers (KOP) Kiribati; Niue Vanilla Organic (NVI); Palau Aquatics; Robert Reimers Associates; Coconut Traders Co-op Transport.

For more information, please e-mail PT&I Trade Development Manager, Teremoana Mato.