ABC Radio Australia, Pacific Beat

Melissa Maykin, Host: The number of Pacific labourers in Australia has reached the 35,000 target, about six months ahead of schedule. Australia's Assistant Minister for Trade, Tim Ayres, says the government is looking at other ways to help bolster Pacific economies, including in trade. He recently took part in the Australian Solomons Business Forum in Brisbane where listening to Pacific businesses was top of his agenda.

Tim Ayres, Assistant Trade Minister: We want to continue to deepen the trading relationship. There are enormous opportunities here. You know, we want to participate and support in the economic development in the Solomons. We want a strong, two-way trade; exports of goods and services from Australia to the Solomons, and imports off Solomon Islander goods and services into Australia.

We want to keep strengthening the Pacific Labour Mobility Scheme too, to make sure that there's, you know, real opportunities for jobs, and skills and economic development there. These are big opportunities for both countries. We're in this region together forever, and there's enormous mutual benefit in making sure that we strengthen and deepen the trading relationship.

Evan Wasuka, Reporter: Are there any particular areas where you think Solomon Islands businesses could excel in or could find room for growth in Australia?

Assistant Minister: Well, Evan, I'm here to listen to businesses from both Australia and the Solomons where they think the opportunities are. I'm not here to deliver a lecture about where the opportunities should be, I want to listen to Solomon Islands businesses, and the government of the Solomon Islands about where the opportunities are. Australia is the biggest investor in infrastructure in the Solomons. We're investing in infrastructure to help support Solomons' development, to help support Solomons' resilience and sovereignty, and to support the welfare of the Solomon Islands people more broadly.

This is core business for Australia in the Pacific. There are opportunities to expand our trade, and with that comes opportunity and jobs, and there are opportunities to keep working together on the Pacific Labour Mobility Scheme that has been an enormous benefit for families and communities in the Solomon Islands. You know, $15 million [Solomon Islands dollars] a month of remittances, and we can continue to deepen that work and expand that work, and make sure that, you know, Solomon Islands workers are returning to the Solomon Islands with new skills and new capabilities as well as income that supports the development of their communities as well. So, you know, the sky is the limit really in the relationship between the two countries, and we just need to keep listening to each other and keep the careful work going on to make sure that there is broad benefits in the Solomon Islands in the relationship.

Evan Wasuka: In terms of the labour mobility scheme, are you expecting it to grow even further with more demand for workers from Solomon Islands and other Pacific countries in the coming year?

Assistant Minister: Well, we've made good progress, but the government has reached a 35,000 target six months ahead of schedule: there's 5,000 workers in Australia from the Solomon Islands. So that's good.

I'm listening carefully to the governments across the Pacific about what they want to get, what they want to secure from the Pacific Labour Mobility Scheme, and Minister Conroy, Pat Conroy, who's been working very hard on these issues, will continue to engage. We want to keep building this scheme and make sure that it's a benefit to the workers who participate, a benefit to the businesses in Australia who employ them, but also of lasting benefit for Pacific Island nations and communities. We're focused on those objectives, we're genuine and serious about continuing to meet those objectives, and we'll keep working with governments like the Government of the Solomon Islands to make sure we deliver.

Evan Wasuka: Often in the headlines we see talks of geopolitics and diplomacy, but trade - areas around trade are often not in the headlines, but how important is trade for Australia with the Pacific; how important is that for its future?

Assistant Minister: Well, trade is about resilience, trade's about economic self‑determination, trade's about mutual benefit and economic growth, and about securing good jobs in Pacific Island communities and nations, and in Australian workplaces as well. This is one of the areas of the strongest mutual benefit.

The Pacific faces very significant challenges on the trade front; distance, economic development, means that we need to support each other, back each other on trade and the opportunities, and I really welcome the discussions I've had so far in terms of ongoing development of the PACER Plus agreement, the principal trade agreement between Australia and New Zealand, and Pacific Island nations, continuing to deepen that work and make sure that it delivers, and that we have got a pathway for continued development.

Now, this is where we can really develop these relations for mutual benefit, and I really look forward to the opportunities more broadly, but today in particular, with the government of the Solomon Islands and the business community here working through, you know, what the next round of opportunities really are.

Melissa Maykin: That was Tim Ayres, Assistant Minister for Trade Australia, and he was speaking there to the ABC's Evan Wasuka.