There are many investment opportunities to be found in the blue waters and green islands of the Blue Pacific, right on New Zealand’s and Australia’s doorstep.
The Blue Pacific is an area of great growth potential; and offers opportunities for savvy Kiwi, Australian, SE Asian (and international) investors across a wide range of industries and enterprises.
In the post-Covid world economy the Pacific can offer investors much in the form of solid economic growth opportunities – and inspirational social progress projects.
Some examples. International production of coffee is predicted to crash in the next decades as highland farmers of the existing industry face the effects of climate change. This will reduce the area suitable for growing coffee by up to 50% by 2050. But cultivars developed for Pacific Islands and their farmers will enjoy the opposite scenario – ever-increasing production, and great quality coffee brands, each with intriguing back stories to help with marketing.
The tropical agriculture and horticulture of the Pacific Islands has great future potential too. Take for example the gluten-free flour produced from breadfruit and cassava. Unusual products, sure, but with a growth trajectory into a burgeoning niche market. The industries for high-value crops, such as vanilla, can surely expand as well.
Or consider the extra-ordinary potential from this vast blue space, of harvesting and production of a new vegan seafood sourced from marine algae. Or all-natural skincare products made from seaweed sourced from the lagoons of all Pacific Islands.
Aquaculture too. The remarkable, sustainably-farmed blue prawns of New Caledonia are destined for restaurant plates (and then the supermarkets) of the world.
The possibilities of increasing, yet sustainable harvesting of oceanic products would seem an entirely expected development. But beyond these natural resources, the countries of the Blue Pacific Continent have more – and some surprising – investment avenues to offer.
Take the human resources potential of 30 million people, all English-speaking. The potential for growth in the services sector is remarkable. Fiji for instance, with its developed internet infrastructure, being close to the international dateline, and with a population multilingual in English and Indian and SE Asian languages, is well-placed to become a dynamic hub for the call centre industry. Indeed, there has been a significant recent investment in this in Fiji, from a British-based multinational. These people-centered investments are the way of the future.
In the tourism sector, there are many real-estate investment opportunities to explore in the way of re-commissioning lodges and resorts that were affected by the Covid-closures. They all stand by to benefit from the anticipated, international resurgence of the leisure travel industry.
Many investment opportunities in the Blue Pacific combine solid financial return with the inspirational, positive impact of social progress projects. Like the Agro-Rugby project established by Fijian rugby superstar Seremaia Bai; where he combines professional rugby coaching with the learning of entrepreneurial and farming skills, based around a fast-growing taro, ginger and cassava exporting operation. Or projects with the goal to provide clean bore-hole water or high-tech solar energy systems to remote villages across all the island archipelagos.
Then there’s all the opportunities of new e-commerce or boutique manufacturing enterprises in the Pacific. It is following a tried-and-tested trajectory that employing people skilled in traditional crafts (as many Pacific Islanders – especially women – are), is a sure indicator of business success.
As an added bonus, a focus on the potentialities of e-commerce at a stroke does away with the dated notion in export-oriented business, of ‘the tyranny of distance.’
This should matter to all New Zealand investors. For, added to our deep overlay of English and Christian culture, New Zealand is still primarily a Pacific Island nation. We all know that Auckland is the greatest Polynesian city in the world. We all see the Pacific as our vast blue neighbourhood – a place for holidays to get away from the New Zealand winter.
We are all keenly aware of the cultural contribution Pacific Islanders make to our nation, from poet laureate Selina Tusitalia Marsh and Professor Yvonne Underhill-Sem, to the Naked Samoans, to all the All Blacks of Pacific Islands origin, and to many more iconic personalities and organisations.
And that the New Zealand government – through treaties of friendship, formal governance associations with some Pacific Island states, and foreign aid programmes – plays a pivotal role in the sustainable development of the Blue Pacific. This last descriptor meaning the 16 sovereign nation-states of the SW Pacific, comprising the members of the Pacific Islands Forum (PIF), and which we find ourselves within.
So it is timely and topical to introduce a new concept, one which should enter and influence New Zealand’s and all of the Pacific’s public discourse. And one with great implications for our collective economic prospects in the future.
At the PIF Leaders’ Summit held in Fiji in July 2022, PIF member nations ratified a strategic plan to 2050, with this great new concept as its foundation, its driver.
Henceforth, the Pacific Islands nations will position themselves and work together as the Blue Pacific Continent.
This changes everything. This is a radically positive conceptual shift. From previously being considered by the wider world (and even to some extent by ourselves) as separate, small, scattered islands, the Blue Pacific Continent should now be appreciated as a vast global area, and one brim-full of valuable, nay essential, resources. These include natural, technological and human resources in equal measure.
The Blue Pacific Continent is the largest geographical entity on earth. And we, especially New Zealanders (citizens, Pacific Island residents, and those from further afield) are all an important part of it. Considering this vast continent we find ourselves in means looking anew at all its possibilities – including the extra-ordinary business and investment opportunities it presents.
This from the 2050 Strategy for the Blue Pacific Continent: “To leverage this strategic and economic value and at the same time address our most significant threats, including climate change, we are deeply committed to working together whilst ensuring that our regional efforts complement the national interest of our Members. As the Blue Pacific Continent we engage with our partners from a position of strength, unity and solidarity on matters of collective interest.”
The 2050 Strategy for the Blue Pacific Continent brings together seven connected thematic areas, that are based on “comprehensive consultation with Members, CROP [Council of Regional Organisations of the Pacific] and other regional organisations, non-state actors and regional exports.”
Those seven thematic areas are: Political leadership and regionalism; people-centred development; peace and security; resource and economic development; climate change and disasters; ocean and environment; and technology and connectivity.
This last two thematic areas are important in the new normal, post-Covid world, with many Pacific Island exporters investing in technologies of the future to overcome the anachronistic handicaps of isolation and remoteness. And with an ever-greater understanding of the enormous resource the Blue Pacific Ocean itself is.
It doesn’t take much expansion of thought to see this as a blueprint, on an unprecedentedly expansive scale, for the sustainable development of exports from the Blue Pacific Continent and inbound investment in the region. And to understand our (New Zealand’s and Australia’s) pivotal place in this.
With the Blue Pacific Continent, we stand on the edge of great economic potential. And a new era of prosperity for all Pasifika peoples. It is up to us to grasp this opportunity.
Opinion piece by Glynis Miller, Trade Commissioner, PTI New Zealand.
