Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 1, Number 3, 1 ʻApelila 1984 — OHA Makes Solid Contacts at Pacific Trade Meetings [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

OHA Makes Solid Contacts at Pacific Trade Meetings

Trade and government representatives from the Pacific islands met in Honolulu Mar. 18-24 for the Pacific Islands-U. S. Trade Through Private Sectors Development conference held at the East-West Center and the Pagoda Hotel. The conference focused on trade and investment designed to encourage the expansion of private enterprise and the development of entrepreneural skills and enterprises in the Pacific lslands. Representatives from Fiji, Tonga, Cook Islands, Papua — New ōuinea, the Solomons, Vanuatu and Amenean and Western Samoa as well as several island areas of Micronesia attended the weeklong affair.

Many displayed their products and eeonomie resources at the on-going trade exhibit whieh was co-sponsored by the San Francisco-based Pan Pacific Allianee for T rade and Development and the U. S. Agency for International Development. Linda Moriarity of Kilauea, Kauai, was OHA's official representative to the conference. She was a participant on the panel session titled, "The U. S. Market in Handicrafts and Art-crafts." Mrs. Moriarity is an importer and wholesaler of traditional handicrafts

from the Pacific Islands through her firm, Territorial Trading Co. She was greeted with considerable interest from other panelists and the audience of the well-attended session. Her slide show of various examples of handicrafts was supplemented with her long experience with the problems and expertise necessary to handicraft entrepreneurship. Fred Eckert, Amenean ambassadorto Fiji, and Fred Zeder, ambassador to Micronesia, encouraged more vigorous trade and marketing efforts by PaciFic islanders in the U. S.

UHA I rustees Moses Keale and Rockne Freitas, along with Eeonomie Development Officer James Moa and Cultural Affairs Officer Bill Tagupa, also attended some of the sessions, meeting and talking with several officials from the visiting delegations. Moa, Tagupa and the two trustees agreed the meetings were fruitful in that they not only expanded OHA's mutual relationship with the Pacific lslands in the social and cultural arenas but eeonomically as well. Several solid contacts were established whieh should prove beneFicial to OHA and the respective island governments.

OH A representative Linda Moriarty makes quite an impression on these Pacific Island delegates during a conference panei session.

OHA Trustee Moses Keale looks on as Eeonomie Development Officer James Moa discusses mutual concerns with Mariano Kelesi of the Solomon Islands during Pacific trade conference. Also involved in discussion are Konny A. Kamngan (facing camera) of Papua New Ouinea and Jesus R. Sablan (white shirt) of Saipan.