Pacific Trade Invest clients, partners and readers of Pacific Periscope are probably familiar with the Pacific Trade Invest (PTI) logo: the concentric swirl of several differently sized blue-green dots. But something has changed recently. Can you tell?
Their shades of emerald-like blue-green stand for the pristine oceanic environs that the Pacific Islands are nestled in. Their uniformly circular shape but different sizes simultaneously reflect their unity and diversity: they are all islands bound by similar histories, geographies and cultures; yet all of them are individually different with their own distinct identities.
What about the number of dots – how many are there and why?
As the economic development agency of the Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat, Pacific Trade Invest (PTI) is engaged in trade and investment promotion in Pacific Island Forum countries through our offices in Auckland, Beijing, Geneva, Sydney and Tokyo.
Each of the dots in the concentric swirl symbolises a single island nation.
Until recently, there were 14 island member countries (except New Zealand and Australia, which are founding members of the Forum).
The logo, therefore, until recently, had 14 dots representing these 14 countries.
However, recently, the Francophone territories of New Caledonia and French Polynesia have joined the Pacific Islands Forum. These two new members are now represented by two additional dots, bringing the total number of dots to 16, reflecting the number of island members of the Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat (except New Zealand and Australia).
The complete updated list of Pacific Island Forum Nations (in alphabetical order) now reads: Cook Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, Fiji, French Polynesia, Kiribati, Marshall Islands, Nauru, New Caledonia, Niue, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Tuvalu and Vanuatu.
If you are eagle-eyed, you will notice the two new dots in the Pacific Trade Invest logo bringing up the total to 16, as we progressively update PTI stationery across our offices.
For more information, please email PTI NZ Marketing, Communications & Research Manager Dev Nadkarni at dev.n@pacifictradeinvest.co.nz
(Source: Pacific Periscope 18 July 2017)