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Cook Islands is expecting to increase its imports from Fiji over the coming months due to the devalued Fijian dollar and a change in shipping route by regional shipping service Pacific Forum Line.
A three-member delegation from the tiny island nation, led by its Deputy Prime Minister Sir Terepai Maoate, Secretary for Finance Sholan Ivaiti and chief executive officer Terry Rangi, was in Fiji this week to explore opportunities here and meet with likely suppliers.
“Our Deputy Prime Minister and Secretary for Finance were here for a meeting in Nadi but prior to coming, the Cook Islands Cabinet requested our Deputy PM to look at what was happening in Fiji in terms of trade,” Rangi told FijiLive.
“So there really were two reasons why we are here: one, the devaluation of your dollar has made it attractive for us to import out of Fiji. And two, we had so much trouble back in Cook Islands when the Pacific Forum Line pulled out last year, most of our cargo was stuck in Auckland.
“But PFL has restarted but it’s now servicing Cook Islands via Fiji and not a direct route between Auckland and Rarotonga. So to ensure that we maintain this service and not have a repeat of what happened last year, we want to maintain or even increase the volume of cargo that the ship carries to Cook Islands.
“We are therefore looking specifically at locally manufactured goods here in Fiji, especially construction goods like concrete, cement and building materials. We’re also looking at furniture, flour and basically anything that’s manufactured here in Fiji which we used to source from New Zealand,” Rangi said.
Cook Islands, he added, spends about NZ$200,000 annually on imports sourced from New Zealand and with the necessary change of trade direction now, some of that will be spent in Fiji.
The delegation met with a number of potential local suppliers including Fijian Holdings Ltd and Basic Industries.
