Provinces consulted on proposed Vanuatu-China trade deal

July 15, 2026 11:03 pm | Posted in Business News | Share now TwitterFacebook

By Hilaire Bule.

A team of government officials from the Department of External Trade within the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Vanuatu Intellectual Property Office, Vanuatu Investment Authority, Customs Department and Department of Industry is currently touring the provinces to consult communities on the proposed Vanuatu-China Trade Agreement (VCTA).

The team was in Lakatoro, MALAMPA Province, this week after visiting SANMA Province a few weeks ago.

A report from the MALAMPA Provincial Government Council said the team spent two days consulting with people in Malampa to provide updates on existing regional and multilateral trade agreements signed by Vanuatu.

The team raised awareness and improved understanding of the proposed VCTA, including its scope, opportunities and potential impacts.

The government officials also engaged stakeholders in discussions to gather feedback, concerns and recommendations on the ongoing trade negotiations.

Among the proposed products Vanuatu could export under the agreement are value-added beef, cocoa products, kava products, coconut products, fruits such as breadfruit, mango, pineapple, pawpaw and banana, vegetables, seafood, noni juice, sandalwood, virgin coconut oil, chocolate, kava powder, kava lactone, frozen fish, cocoa powder, cocoa paste, turmeric, ginger, pepper, tobacco, cosmetics, nangai oil, tamanu oil, biodiesel, raw coconut oil, shell charcoal, coffee, processed tuna, bêche-de-mer, peanuts, vanilla, taro, yam, cassava, handicrafts, artefacts, sawn timber, pork, fresh and frozen chicken, medical hemp, organic fruit juice and deep-sea prawns.

The People’s Republic of China has more than 50 potential products it could export to the Vanuatu market under the proposed trade agreement.

One participant in MALAMPA who attended this week’s consultation acknowledged the efforts of government officials to engage directly with communities and explain the proposed Vanuatu-China Trade Agreement.

The participant, who is a woman and wished to remain anonymous, said China is a large country and more developed than Vanuatu.

“We have to be very careful about importing products from China. It is a big country with more factories and processed food compared to us. China will absorb the Vanuatu market with its products. We also have to be very careful about the importation of live animals if they are included in the list of China’s proposed products,” she said.

She encouraged people in Vanuatu to plant more crops and called on the government to mechanise agricultural systems, noting that many people on the islands still rely on manual labour.

She praised the government officials for conducting consultations on the VCTA, comparing it with the Nakamal Agreement recently signed between Vanuatu and Australia.

Daily Post understands there were no public consultations on the Nakamal Agreement before it was signed.

There is no date yet for the signing of the Vanuatu-China Trade Agreement.

Vanuatu had proposed naming the agreement the Namele Agreement, but it will now simply be called the Vanuatu-China Trade Agreement.