BY JOHN HOUANIHAU
British High Commissioner to the Solomon Islands, His Excellency, Paul Turner has visited Isabel province.
His visit was purposely to see health and education projects funded through United Kingdom (UK) multilateral support to Gavi and the Global Partnership for Education.
As part of the visit Mr Turner said that he also had discussions with Isabel Premier, Lawrence Hayward about the review of the Provincial Government Act.
Turner visited the local hospital in Buala, which recently received both HPV and polio vaccines from Gavi.
The UK recently announced £1.25 billion (AUS $ 2.5 billion), which makes the UK the largest global donor for vaccines and the top three donors to the World Health Organisation (WHO) and the Global Fund, having just pledged £310 m (Aus $ 620m) to the WHO for 2025-28.
Turner also visited schools in Buala since UK is the top bilateral donor to the Global Partnership for Education (GPE) enabling organisations like UNICEF to provide basic water and sanitation facilities at schools.
During the visit Turner said he saw firsthand the recent upgrades to schools’ sanitation facilities undertaken by UNICEF through UK (GPE) funding.
He also had the opportunity to have broader discussions with the Premier and his Executive Committee on a range of issues linked to the provincial government functions and central government.
During the discussion the Premier raised the issue of the ongoing review of the Provincial Government Act, saying it was important to get the right balance between central and provincial government.
Turner agreed that more responsibilities and resources were needed at the provincial level and that provincial government needed more support in collecting business licence fees from mining companies.
Turner said the UK had been on its own journey with devolution to Scotland and Wales, though it was difficult but important balance to strike.
He told the Isabel Provincial Government that he hopes the UK can offer advice and assistance on a new Provincial Government Act if requested by the Prime Minister’s office (PMO).
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