First South Pacific Expo for March 2006 [1]
Monday, October 24, 2005 - 18:00. Updated on Wednesday, October 1, 2014 - 14:54.
by Pesi Fonua
Killing two birds with one stone, Rt Hon. Helen Clerk, over breakfast this morning, October 24, briefed the Papua New Guinea Chamber of Commerce over the Pacific Plan and then announced the first South Pacific Expo to be held in Auckland, New Zealand next year.
The press breakfast was held at the Crowne Plaza Hotel, Port Moresby, in a lead up to the Pacific Forum meeting which opens tomorrow.
Gilbert Ullrich, the Managing Director of the New Zealand Pacific Business Council who accompanied the Prime Minister, said that the idea for a Pacific Expo has been well supported by the New Zealand government.
The South Pacific Expo has been scheduled to be an additional event to the well-established annual Pasifika Festival, a cultural event for Pacific Islanders living in New Zealand.
Gilbert said that the SP Expo will be held from March 13-14 at the new $50 million Pacific Events Centre, at Manukau South Auckland. "It will be a magnificent concept to be put up annually. There will be a seminar, and a whole lot of other events to be incorporated into it." Gilbert that New Zealand was the most appropriate place for such an Expo, "because of its close relations with the islands of the South Pacific."
Gilbert and the Executive Officer Richard Maugueret will be touring the South Pacific to promote the South Pacific Expo.