New Zealand Deputy Prime Minister unveils plaque at the new TFD office building

IMG_0819New Zealand Deputy Prime Minister Rt. Hon. Winston Peters and his delegation, together with the Minister of Natural Resources, Hon. Puakena Boreham and the Minister of Finance Hon. Matia Toafa, paid a visit to the Tuvalu Fisheries new office building last Saturday, March 2nd 2019.

The visit was part of the New Zealand delegation’s programme, visiting projects that were funded by the Government of New Zealand. TFD new office building was one of the projects funded by the New Zealand Aid Programme with furniture also supplied under the Tuvalu Fisheries Support Programme (TFSP) of New Zealand aid.

Deputy Prime Minister Rt. Hon. Winston Peters unveiled the plaque, announcing for the first time the recognition that the building that was built in partnership by the governments of New Zealand and Tuvalu.

The DPM and his delegation spent 2 hours within the TFD office building. During their visit, they had the opportunity to visit each section of the Fisheries Department. Firstly, they visited the Vessels Monitoring System VMS room, then the Operation & Development section to examine sea safety equipment and the Coastal laboratory.

The programme ended with lunch and a brief presentation from the Secretary to Finance Mr Talavai Iona and the Secretary to Natural Resources Mr Niko Apinelu. TFD staff provided souvenir gifts for the Deputy Prime Minister and the delegations as a sign of appreciation of their visit.

It was a very busy week for TFD staff. Even though there was a training course on water quality monitoring and consultation on crewing they also made an effort to prepare for the short visit of the Deputy Prime Minister of New Zealand and his delegation.