Opening business opportunities for the islands

Dev Nadkarni





After a five-year stint at the helm of the Auckland-based Pacific Islands Trade and Investment Commission (PITIC) as Trade Commissioner, Chris Cocker has moved on to fresh pastures—but well within the ambit of the area of his expertise: the Pacific Islands.
Cocker stepped down from his position at PITIC in early December, about six months before his second contract ran out. He has since joined the Wellington headquartered Pacific Co-operation Foundation (PCF) as Senior Programme Manager but will be based at its Auckland office.
The PCF is an independent public/private partnership with the mission of benefiting the peoples of the Pacific Islands and New Zealand by increasing co-operation and understanding among them. The New Zealand government and organisations like Air New Zealand are its main sponsors.
It has been engaged in a number of projects around the Pacific for the past several years including sponsoring media visits to the islands and holding regional conferences to foster understanding between the Pacific Islands and New Zealand.
“The position is a newly created one,” Cocker told ISLANDS BUSINESS. “And the role description for it has partly come as a result of the outcomes of conferences like the Pacific Wave Conference and the Melanesian symposium that were held recently, which also underscores New Zealand’s commitment to the Pacific Islands.”
One of the initial projects that Cocker will work on would be building a “Buy Pacific” brand that is aimed at promoting Pacific Islands products in New Zealand—an idea that was suggested at the Pacific Wave Conference with a view to marketing Pacific products better and in a more visibly branded manner.
The idea is to increase awareness of Pacific Islands products in New Zealand while simultaneously bringing islands manufacturers and exporters up to speed with standards expected of such products in New Zealand, says Cocker.
“We plan to develop these standards working with a number of agencies like those involved with food safety, bio security and other product quality issues. This, we hope, will encourage Pacific Islands manufacturers to improve the design and quality of their product to meet the market in New Zealand.”
At a future date, the project plans to put in place a licensing mechanism where product manufacturers and exporters would be able to apply for the “Buy Pacific” mark, a kind of approval status for meeting quality requirements. “But initially, we are focusing on “Buy Pacific” to be the main driver for increasing awareness of Pacific Islands products in New Zealand,” Cocker clarifies.
He plans to bring his long and varied experience in Pacific Islands trade as well as his considerably contact list into play to kick-start the project.
“Building bridges between the islands and New Zealand is an ongoing process from my previous job into this one, but now there’s the opportunity for pumping out actual success stories across product categories and individual enterprises,” he says.
The project will start off with product categories like fresh produce, fashion wear, jewellery and handicraft from island countries like the Cook Islands, Fiji, French Polynesia, New Caledonia, Samoa, Tonga, Vanuatu and Papua New Guinea.
“We want to get enough traction on this project so that we have enough ‘Buy Pacific’ branded product in New Zealand before the biggest sporting event of the country due next year—the Rugby World Cup,” says Cocker.
The second project is the direct result of the suggestion made by veteran Papua New Guinea leader Sir Rabbie Namaliu during the Melanesian Symposium. In his address, he had suggested that there was much to learn for Pacific communities from the successes of the dozens of business operations owned and operated by Maori clans around New Zealand. 
“There are several issues that are common to Maori iwi and Pacific Islands communities, the most obvious being communal land ownership and leveraging the natural resources like forestry for commercial gain for economic progress of the community,” says Cocker.
One of the early initiatives in this area would be a conference and symposium next year in Port Moresby, where Maori iwi engaged in business will present their ideas and share their knowledge and experience about negotiations and resource utilisation to land-owning communities in PNG.
A similar initiative will also get under way in Bougainville under the aegis of the Council for Securing Cooperation in the Asia Pacific on the subject of leveraging economic opportunities from customary land.
“This is interesting in that it is the first time that there is a framework for indigenous peoples from New Zealand to share their experience and knowledge with Melanesian peoples,” Cocker says.
Tongan born and Fiji educated, Cocker has rich experience in the Pacific Islands region having worked in leadership positions in tourism and trade.
“I am looking forward to further building on the bridges I have worked to build all these years so that they can result in a movement of commerce and wealth to benefit both the Pacific Islands and New Zealand,” he says.