Jarvis had an earlier stint as Trade Commissioner when he led the office in a number of highly successful initiatives in private sector development, export, investment and tourism promotion in the Pacific Islands region.

“I’m humbled, honoured and privileged that I have been chosen to serve the economic development interests of the Pacific for another term,” he said.

“I’m very passionate about private sector development in the Pacific and the Trade Commission is perfectly positioned to help Pacific Island communities and businesses to achieve growth and economic development outcomes.”

Jarvis believes collaboration and co-operation is the way forward. “As a relatively small business, our success is going to rely on partnerships with businesses and development organisations in the Pacific. These are times to leverage, collaborate and work together with our multiple stakeholders, other PT&I Network offices, member country Governments and the private sector to achieve desired outcomes.”

During his previous stint, the Sydney office launched a number of initiatives, many of which have turned into successful ongoing programmes. The promotion of Pacific arts and crafts in Australia through the high profile annual Maketi Ples event, featuring Pacific food and beverage exporters at Fine Food Australia every year and providing small tourism operators throughout the Pacific Islands region with an online booking platform with web promotion tools and training are a few of these. He was instrumental in establishing the Pacific islands investment database, which at one point showcased $380 million worth of investment opportunities in the region.

Future plans

Speaking of future plans, Jarvis said the trade commission’s strategy would be to work more intensively with businesses themselves to achieve higher levels of exports. “We will work more closely with exporters, investors, investees and tourism operators. We are now able to understand better than ever before what support is needed for these players to execute practical and meaningful support initiatives as never before.”

Revealing that this would be possible because of the increased funding that has been made available to PT&I’s Sydney office, Jarvis said, “We gratefully acknowledge the help and confidence that the Australian Government has reposed in us, having increased our funding. This will help us do things we’ve always wanted to do but couldn’t because of funding constraints.”

A strong votary of labour mobility, he said the movement of people regionally for seasonal and skill based work offers one of the biggest opportunities for economic development in the region. “We will work with stakeholders to encourage and grow the migration for work by naturalised people of the Pacific within the Pacific as well as into international markets. We will also work for the constructive use of remittance funds by helping skills and entrepreneurial development so that workers can invest back in their home countries to aid economic development by creating jobs.”

Jarvis has hit the ground running in his new stint at the Trade Commission. On his very first day on the job, he introduced an Australian tourism operator with the relevant department of the Australian Government to propose the hiring of temporary workers from the Pacific Islands in the tourism sector.

New investment trends

Mr Jarvis would like the Trade Commission to be the conduit to bring new trends in investing that are gaining traction in other parts of the world backed in equal measure by conscience, technology and practicality. In his year and a half away from the job, he met and worked with a range of this new breed of investors.

“This past year, I’ve witnessed the exciting emergence of social investors. They’re also called ‘impact’ or ‘ethical’ investors. That’s the kind of investor who is motivated by social outcomes but is also looking for financial return to make it a sustainable venture and a win-win scenario for all concerned.

“I think these are immensely suited to the realities of the Pacific environment and we plan to work quite intensely with such entities around the region.”

The Trade Commission’s work with tourism operators will continue, with the expansion of its existing online initiative and strategy. “We will review and improve as we go along,” Mr Jarvis says. He also has plans to introduce innovative ideas in the tourism sector leveraging the strength of different markets and their unique offerings.

Commenting on PT&I’s continuing work in the women and youth sector Mr Jarvis said, The Sydney office remains completely committed to creators and artists around the region. “We are looking at getting a key cultural and gender specialist into the Sydney office. The economic impact that empowerment of women and focusing on youth brings to a community can be significant.”

Acknowledging the creeping effects of climate change on fragile island environments he said, “COP21 outcomes and commitments have significant impact for the islands. We will encourage investment into renewable energy technologies to help reduce energy costs which have been a big constraint. There is an urgent need to reduce the reliance on fossil fuels and non-renewable energy both from an economic and a climate change standpoint.”