Prime Minister Hon. James Marape has called for a more concerted effort among leaders of the Pacific in developing the region’s fisheries, especially in the downstream processing of the region’s tuna.

Prime Minister Marape asked the Pacific leaders to look beyond dependence on grants and aid, and focus on developing Pacific’s marine resources which the Pacific Ocean readily supplies in bountiful.

He highlighted that the tuna industry alone is a $40 billion market which Pacific countries can tap into to grow their economies, adding that catch from the Pacific makes up nearly 60 percent of the world’s tuna, worth about USD5 billion (about K19.4 billion).

PM Marape called on the leaders to look at a regional strategy that would address the catching, processing and export of fish, particularly tuna, within the Pacific for better return value instead of continually losing this through raw, unprocessed tuna export.

PM Marape said the task may be too big for one country to tackle on its own given land, population and economy sizes of the Island States, however this can be done collectively.

He further revealed that Papua New Guinea is already heading into tuna downstream processing, adding that his government is willing to make land available in PNG to PIF nations, especially the small Micronesian island countries, to build their tuna processing factories and export to their markets throughout the world.

Prime Minister Marape was speaking at the 53rd Pacific Islands Forum Leaders Meeting on Tuesday, 27 August 2024 in Tonga.