September 2, 2010President of the Cairns Chamber of Commerce and Director of Advance Cairns, Jeremy Blockey, has been appointed as the Queensland Government's new Special Trade Representative to Papua New Guinea (PNG).
As announced in State Parliament this week by Treasurer Andrew Fraser, Blockey has been selected to fill the important position supporting Far North Queensland's push into a key growth export market.
"Papua New Guinea is Queensland's closest neighbour and our largest trading partner in the Pacific," Fraser says.
"The appointment of Mr Blockey as the new Queensland Government Special Trade Representative to Papua New Guinea, based in Cairns, will help to further strengthen the region's position as a gateway for companies seeking to take advantage of export opportunities in PNG,” he says.
"Mr Blockey's strong government and business contacts in North Queensland, and experience in Papua New Guinea, will enable him to play an invaluable role in developing strategies to expand export opportunities, and pressing the interests of Cairns and Far North Queensland in PNG.”
The Cairns-based Special Trade Representative to PNG is an initiative of the Queensland Government under the Cairns Economic Future Plan released in November 2009, to create new jobs in Cairns and Far North Queensland.
The Special Trade Representative will also be a member of the new Queensland-PNG Business Group to advise Trade and Investment Queensland on business relations with PNG.
This group is chaired by Simon Wild, Cairns-based Chairman of Airlines PNG, and includes business representatives to help steer Government support for expanded commercial relationships with PNG.
