Fish being unloaded in Papua New Guinea: the CFTC’s fisheries training programme is being expanded to other countries in the Pacific

In February 2005 the Secretariat provided Botswana with a blueprint for promoting investment in non-diamond minerals. In Ghana in 2004, it reviewed upstream petroleum regulation and made recommendations for reform. The Government of Kenya, with the Secretariat’s assistance, is reviewing stakeholder comments on new mining reform proposals developed with Commonwealth assistance in 2003-2004.

In Swaziland, the Secretariat assisted a government task force in developing a new mining policy in 2002-2004. Preparation of mining legislation is under way. Since April 2005, the United Republic of Tanzania has been receiving assistance in evaluating and negotiating the terms of a proposed gas-to-electricity project which could expand reliable electricity supplies to the Mtwara region.

Technical assistance on the delimitation of maritime boundaries is a Commonwealth speciality. It can take the form of advice on Law of the Sea issues, on negotiations with neighbouring countries, or on updating legislation, constructing maps and charts, and training government officials. Fiji Islands, Grenada, Guyana, Kenya, Mauritius, Papua New Guinea, Mozambique, Samoa and Seychelles all benefited from such assistance in 2003–2005.

Under the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, coastal states may be entitled to extend their continental shelf claim beyond 200 nautical miles. The Secretariat has collaborated with the UN in a series of training workshops to assist member countries preparing submissions to the UN Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf in respect of claims on the extended continental shelf.