Lad to Buckingham for award

NOLAN Salmon Parairua will travel to Buckingham Palace in England next Wednesday to receive an award from the Queen for his leadership role. Parairua, 26 years, is among eight Pacific Islanders who will receive the awards. They are among 60 young people from around the Commonwealth to receive a Queen’s Young Leaders Award. The winners…

SI needs to encourage investment

The Solomon Islands Chamber of Commerce (SICCI), the peak body representing the private sector in the country, refutes claims that overseas investment should be discouraged in the country. Solomon Island needs investment from abroad as well as encouraging domestic investments to flourish. SICCI in a statement yesterday said, like other developing and small island states,…

PSC takes tough stance on tender accountability

THE Public Service Commission is expecting details of procurements from Permanent Secretaries in their annual performance this year. This is the result of complaints in media over the widespread irregularities in government tender processes. It was claimed that there was Paper Company middlemen who submit highly inflated quotes and then use genuine suppliers to actually…

PSs briefed on state of economy

PERMANENT Secretaries have been informed on the importance of procurement management and the status of the economy at Mendana Hotel on Wednesday. Ministry of Finance and Treasury and Public Service Commission organised the one day meeting to discuss the issues with the PSs. Finance permanent secretary, Harry Kuma said procurement is important because it leads…

Opposition: intervention timely

THE Parliamentary Opposition Office applauds the government for quickly resolving the Solomon Airlines issue. But the Opposition Office maintains that the government’s intervention into airlines is only proper as government owes the airlines millions of dollars as well. “As the largest creditor of the Solomon Airlines it’s only proper that the government intervenes to allow…

Doctors trained in spinal surgery

ORTHOPAEDIC doctors in the Pacific region were recently trained on how to conduct spinal surgery in Honiara. This was piloted by the Pacific Islands Orthopaedic Association (PIOA) in training doctors from six Pacific Island countries at the National Referral Hospital. Students come from Kiribati, Papua New Guinea (PNG), Fiji, Samoa, American Samoa, and Solomon Islands.…

Final consultation on SEZ conducted

FINAL consultation on the Special Economic Zone Technical Expertise draft bill commenced on Thursday in Honiara. Representatives of the private sectors, Non Government Organisations and Isabel, Central, Makira and Guadalcanal Provinces have participated in the two-day workshop. Ministry of Commerce, Industries, Labour and Immigration organised the workshop, with the aim of getting the views from…

Chainsaw training for Temotu villagers

CHAINSAW owners and operators in Temotu province have recently completed a successful skill training workshop on chainsaw overhauling & servicing, and timber milling processing. The training was held at Lata, Temotu’s provincial head quarter. Facilitating the training was the Principal Mechanical Labour Officer Nathaniel Mara from the Ministry of Commerce, Industry, Labour & Immigration (MCILI).…

Malaita thanks APTC

THE Malaita Provincial Government has acknowledged the Australian Government for initiating the Australia Pacific Technical College (APTC) which the province has benefited from. Acting premier Joe Heroau uttered this during the APTC graduation held at Hotel Malaita in Auki, Wednesday. Twenty-one early childhood teachers graduated during the ceremony. “First of all, on behalf of the…