As 2024 comes to a close, it is an opportunity to look back at all the achievements and memories we have built together.

Our year started with a wonderful partnership with Red Hat Impact to stage two rounds of cross-Pacific dialogues for its Trade Finance Vehicle 2.0 project, one of our most significant collaborations to date. TFV 2.0 aims to help women entrepreneurs in the Pacific reduce their costs in terms of production, trade, financing and logistics. It was inspiring to meet so many entrepreneurial Pacific women at our online workshops held between February and April and hear how a financing vehicle of this kind could work for them.

For seven years ICDP has been hosting dialogues on topics of interest to our Pacific network, and in April we convened a talanoa on Adaptive Leadership. We will continue to offer opportunities for our members to learn and collaborate through these online gatherings and look forward to hearing suggestions from you about the themes you’d like to explore.

We cannot overstate the importance of our partnership with DLA Piper, who helped us convene several capacity-building workshops for entrepreneurs in Port Moresby and Suva. Seventy-three participants benefited from DLA Piper’s expertise this year alone during our June workshops featuring local and international lawyers specialising in commercial law and venture capital.

These events also relied on the expertise and hard work of our dedicated and well-connected Hub Coordinators in Fiji, PNG, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga and Vanuatu. We thank you for your commitment to broadening ICDP’s reach across the Pacific and for being such a pleasure to work with.

As the attention of international leaders this year turned to sustainable ocean management, we invited the ICDP network to join the global conversation and send a message from the Pacific Islands to the world about the opportunities and challenges of the Pacific ‘blue economy’. ICDP Director Catherine Fritz-Kalish addressed the Green Rio Summit in October in Brazil via video link and outlined the success ICDP have had in bridging the divide between countries in our region through new business partnerships. Her speech was informed by the insights offered at our Dialogue on the Blue Economy in September by our most experienced members, proving that the ‘Large Ocean States’ of the Pacific are a significant force and are open for sustainable business opportunities.

2025 is almost here, and we are excited about the bright future which lies ahead.  ICDP is progressing a range of new opportunities and partnerships ‘behind the scenes’ and looks forward to realise them in the next few months. Until then, we would like to acknowledge the generosity and commitment of ICDP’s funding partners – Pyne and Partners, DLA Piper, ICDP Foundation and Global Access Partners, as well as our philanthropic supporters. Without you, none of this could be possible.

Our dedicated team in Sydney and our suppliers across the Pacific will enjoy a short break but will be back with renewed strength and determination in January.

We wish you all a delightful holiday season and a fantastic year ahead. Stay tuned!