OCTA Celebrates Its Second Anniversary
The Office of the Chief Trade Adviser (OCTA) celebrates its second anniversary on 29 March 2012. It was just two years ago when OCTA first opened the door to its Port Vila-based Office.
OCTA is an independent trade advisory body to the Forum Island Countries, and provides independent advice and support to its members in PACER Plus negotiations with Australia and New Zealand. OCTA is fully owned and is under the exclusive control of the Forum Island Countries. The four main roles of the OCTA are advisory and capacity building, coordination, facilitation, and representation as requested by Members.
Thirteen Forum Island Countries are members of the OCTA: Cook Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, Kiribati, Nauru, Niue, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Republic of Marshall Islands, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Tuvalu and Vanuatu.
Dr Edwini Kessie was appointed Chief Trade Adviser by the OCTA Governing Board in February 2012 upon the recommendation of the Forum Island Country Trade Ministers.
Dr Kessie shared his vision for the young organisation:
“Although it is barely two years, the OCTA has demonstrated its capacity to support the Forum Island Countries in their negotiations of PACER Plus with Australia and New Zealand. With a dedicated team, the OCTA will continue to evolve and grow from strength to strength in order to provide top quality advice to its members and strengthen their capacity in trade policy matters so as to facilitate their full integration into the multilateral trading system”
OCTA would like to use this opportunity to thank our dedicated staff, members, development partners, friends and stakeholders for all their support and encouragement.
OCTA’s second anniversary coincides with the final day of the fourth PACER Plus Officials’ Meeting that is currently taking place in Brisbane, Australia.
––––
THE END
—
Dr Julia Tijaja
Caretaker Chief Trade Adviser
Office of the Chief Trade Adviser
Independence Park, Port Vila, Vanuatu
P.O. Box 561
T: +678 25003 ext. 125 (0) or +678 5684637 (m)
E: jtijaja [at] octapic [dot] org
Web: www.octapic.org
Go back to Media Releases page