THE New Zealand Deputy Prime Minister and Associate Minister of Foreign Affairs, Carmel Sepuloni and her delegation left the country yesterday after holding morning tea with a team of RSE workers in Honiara.
Minister Sepuloni along with the New Zealand Minister for Pacific Peoples, Barbara Edmonds, joined local RSE workers during a pre-departure briefing for these workers who will be leaving soon for employment on various farms in New Zealand.
Solomon Islands Permanent Secretary for Foreign Affairs and External Trade, Colin Beck, thanked New Zealand for the RSE scheme which he said is helping to provide jobs and assistance to local Solomon Islanders and their extended families.
He said Solomon Islands has a ready seasonal workforce that is willing to assist New Zealand now and into the future.
Some of the returning workers were able to share their experiences of working in New Zealand and the effects that their employment has had on their wellbeing and that of their families.
Solomon Islands Government used its engagement with New Zealand this week to seek the removal of the cap limit of workers sent to New Zealand through the RSE scheme and for its expansion to other sectors.
The New Zealand delegation left Honiara for its engagements in Fiji and thereafter in Tonga.
