Govt values relationship with EU

The Solomon Islands continues to value its bilateral and multilateral relationships with the European Union (EU), which have strengthened through development cooperation under the auspices of the Lomé Convention, the Cotonou Agreement, and the Samoa Agreement

Prime Minister, the Honourable Jeremiah Manele, emphasized this during his meeting with the newly appointed Ambassador of the European Union to the Pacific, Her Excellency Barbara Plinkert.

Her Excellency Barbara Plinkert paid a courtesy call on the Prime Minister this morning, 1st November 2024, following the presentation of her credentials to the Governor-General earlier this week.

Prime Minister Manele welcomed and congratulated H.E Barbara Plinkert on her appointment as the Ambassador of the EU to Solomon Islands with residence in Suva, Fiji.

Prime Minister Manele said the government recognizes and appreciates the EU for its long-standing relationship with the Solomon Islands and to date is still the country’s largest multilateral development partner. 

The Prime Minister further registered the government’s acknowledgement to EU for its assistance throughout the years covering productive, social and environmental sectors; such as the education and human resource development, Climate Change, Renewable Energy, Good Governance, Agriculture, Forestry, Rural Development, and Civil Society. 

Prime Minister Manele added that these assistance have seen human capacity being enhanced through training and better access to quality education; infrastructures being built in the rural areas for better and comfortable living standards to name a few.  

In that regard, the government acknowledged the rollout of ongoing EU projects, being implemented by government line Ministries and agencies, UN agencies, regional organizations, CROP agencies and civil society organizations.

Some of these programs include the following:

• Provincial Governance and service delivery in Solomon Islands Project.
• Urban Water Sanitation Support Project 
• Protecting and promoting civil, social, economic and human rights for people with disabilities in Solomon Islands project.
• Central Islands Province Livelihoods Improvement Project (CLIP)
• Solomon Islands Provincial Governance and Service Delivery Project (PGSDP)
• EU-Solomon Islands Partnership for Resilience Building (Budget support to MoFT)

The Prime Minister further acknowledged and welcomed EU’s direction of funding development infrastructure projects such as its 18M EUR ($163 SBD) contribution to the ongoing Urban Water Supply and Sanitation Project (UWSSSP) worth a total $77M USD (643M SBD).

Prime Minister Manele said the government also values the expanded trade and economic cooperation that stems from the EPA and continues to look forward to furthering close dialogue with the EU to maximize the synergy between development co-operation and the trade agreement’s objectives.

The Prime Minister acknowledged the EU’s support on climate change and resilience efforts in Solomon Islands and expressed our interest in the possibility of expanding the scope of EU-SI cooperation in the sectors of renewable energy and mitigation, particularly targeting rural communities.

The Prime Minister acknowledged and welcomed Solomon Islands-EU cooperation and engagement under the new OACPS-EU Partnership Agreement, Samoa Agreement.

In this regard, Solomon Islands will continue to encourage PACP member countries to ratify the Samoa Agreement in a timely manner to ensure institutional regional mechanisms are operationalized. 

Prime Minister Manele made the assurance that Solomon Islands will also ensure to have the Samoa Agreement ratified by Cabinet Approval as soon as practical. 

Solomon Islands supports the resourcing requirement for the implementation of the Agreement at the national and regional level and kindly calls on the EU to expedite the required resourcing as a matter of urgency.

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Prime Minister’s Press Secretariat