the trade agreements which were negotiated in the H&S programme.
Commenting on the significance of the initiative, the Senior Director of Trade, Oceans and National Resources Directorate at The Commonwealth, Paulo Kautoke, said: “Strengthening trade development capacities in the Pacific remains a priority for The Commonwealth and ensuring the uninterrupted provision of services to our Member States during these difficult times has been imperative to this.” He added that utilising the institutional knowledge of those advisers has played a significant role in enabling the region to focus on implementation of trade agreements that will “further integrate the Pacific into the global economy”.
Although the programme was initially expected to fill an anticipated gap in implementation of trade projects, its termination was extended to 31 December 2021 in view of the COVID-19 pandemic, since trade support was critical to boost the Pacific region’s resilience and recovery from the global health crisis.
“The Hub and Spokes Programme is a practical example of broadening the scope of traditional Aid for Trade by creating an absorption method for institutions within the ACP through transfer of skills and knowledge,” Zarak Khan, Director of Programmes and Initiatives at PIFS, said. “Without a shadow of doubt the PIFS and the Pacific benefitted immensely from the deployment of Trade Advisers between 2014 and 2018. The programme benefitted Forum Island Countries in developing their national trade capacity building, development and implementation of trade policies, such as Trade Policy Frameworks of almost all FICs.”
Accordingly, at the end of last year, PIFS announced plans to roll out a trade programme modelled on H&S. A few weeks later, the European Union and PIFS signed a new EU Pacific Trade Capacity project in late-January, along with the deployment of long term advisers across the region.
