THE United Arab Emirates (UAE) will be supporting Solomon Islands to review and refine the Bina Habour Project Business Case and Financing Proposal to ensure its feasibility.
This was announced by Prime Minister Jeremiah Manele at a press conference in Honiara on Sunday soon after his arrival from, Dubai, United Arab Emirates (UAE).
PM Manele was in Dubai for the 12th Edition of the World Governments Summit. He was invited to attend the summit by the Government of UAE.
At the margins of the summit, PM Manele said, he had four ‘extremely fruitful’ bilaterial meetings and one of them was with the Envoy of the Minister of Foreign Affairs of UAE to the Caribbean and Pacific States, Omar Hassan Shehadeh.
“During the meeting, Mr Omar conveyed his strong support to review and refine the Bina Habour Business case and financing proposal and assured me that he will work with Abu Dhabi Fund for Development on the review and refinement of the proposal as well as its financing.
“We have given the Special Envoy a copy of the proposal and also, I have sent an electronic version for ease of analysis. He will provide feedback on areas that may require further inputs from our side,” PM Manele said.
PM Manele said the Special Envoy also acknowledged his delegation’s additional proposal for the consideration of a fuel storage depot at Bina Habour and that he plans to visit Honiara in May this year, also bringing with him an investor on petroleum for preliminary discussions.
He said furthermore, his meeting with the Special Envoy saw the signing of an overarching Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) between the UAE and Pacific Island Forum (PIF) Countries, with individual country agreement to be signed separately by each country.
PM Manele said he conveyed his support for this proposal and also conveyed the same to the Deputy Prime Minister of Fiji who was also there.
He said Solomon Islands together with Fiji and Papua New Guinea will lead the consultations with other PIF countries, commencing at the Ministers of Trade Meeting to be convened in Fiji in two weeks time.
The PM said the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and External Trade (MFAET) will be Solomon Islands lead ministry on this matter.
“I will be speaking with the Minister to ensure our people with expertise in this area, including the Director of Trade. Our Head of Missions in Suva and Beijing are involved in the process to ensure we can expedite the completion of the CEPA to be signed at the PIF meeting in Honiara in September this year.
“At the same time, they are also working on a Solomon Islands -UAE Agreement that will come under the CEPA, for potential signing during PIF meeting,” he added.
PM Manele also announced that his meeting with the Special Envoy saw his expression of extreme support for a proposal for UAE to support Solomon Islands develop a National ID Card system.
“We have agreed to send to him the list of key people who will be involved in this initiative and he will link them with the appropriate people in UAE to commence the discussion on a workplan towards this objective.
“They will also arrange for our team to visit the UAE to see what they currently have which could form the basis of the Solomon Islands National ID if SI is interested, he stated.
By LACHLAN SHYVES EDDIE & DELI-SHARON OSO
Solomon Star, Honiara
Photo caption: PM Manele and his delegation met on arrival by the Deputy Prime Minister Bradley Tovosia, who acted on his behalf during his absence in the country to attend the World Governments Summit in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Photo by LACHLAN SHYVES EDDIE
