First National Stakeholder Workshop. Vanuatu National Green Export Review

Over 40 participants attended the first workshop including government officials, academia, the private sector, and NGOS. The workshop was organized into one general session, followed by focused sessions on selected green sectors, including, copra/coconut, cocoa, sandalwood and tourism.

The opening remarks were introduced by H.E. Honorable Mr. Ham Lini, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Trade, who emphasized the need for Vanuatu producers to add value throughout the green sectors of Vanuatu, moving from commodities exports to exports of higher value consumer products. The general session presented UNCTAD's green product space methodology and the results of the Vanuatu's baseline study for the selected product/product groups.

The preliminary findings of the baseline study stimulated rich discussions in the sectoral sessions of the workshop. Participants elaborated on the basic findings of the study with detailed information on recent developments in the copra/coconut, cocoa, sandalwood and tourism sectors.