$500,000 boost
THE launch of the E-commerce Grant Facility of $500,000 for two years will strengthen e-commerce opportunities for Pacific tourism and trade by supporting the Pacific private sector.
According to Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat, the grant was launched under the Enhancing Pacific-Korea Trade Opportunities through Exports and Tourism for Pacific MSMEs on May 4, 2022.
It said this initiative was under the auspices of the Republic of Korea – Pacific Islands Forum Cooperation Fund, established in 2008.
The Pacific Islands Forum deputy secretary general Dr Filimon Manoni conveyed his thanks and appreciation to the Government of Korea for making this possible.
The ambassador for Korea, Park Youngkyu said the grant scheme was to assist micro small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) in enhancing their products and service provisions to make them more marketable and appealing to the Korean consumers, also more accessible to the Korean consumers, many of whom use online platforms.
Businesswoman and founder of the Fiji SME Network Kim Beddoes said the grant was timely for Pacific businesses. The focus on e-commerce was said to also be crucial given the pandemic speed up the shift to online interface.
The regional grant facility was stated to directly target implementation of Measure 7.7.1 of Pacific E-commerce Strategy and Roadmap, which related to
Access to Finance for E-commerce.
Through this project, the Government of Korea joined the group of like-minded donor partners who were supporting the
Pacific E-commerce Initiative, including Australia, the European Union, the Enhanced Integrated Framework, and the US Agency for International Development
as mentioned by PIFS
This partnership advanced the region’s collective purpose of regional E-commerce readiness.