Miss Pacific Islands to attend Pasifika Festival Manasa Kalouniviti

Manasa Kalouniviti

Tuesday, March 20, 2018

Miss Pacific Islands Matauaina To'omalai, from American Samoa, during the Miss Pacific Islands Pageant last year. Picture: SUPPLIED.

THE 11 Pacific Islands villages at the 26th Pasifika Festival in Auckland, New Zealand next week will be visited by Miss Pacific Islands, Matauaina To'omalai, from American Samoa.

The villages include Fiji, Cook Islands, Niue, Aotearoa, Hawaii, Kiribati, Samoa, Tahiti, Tuvalu, Tonga and Tokelau, representing different Pacific Island cultures with delicious authentic foods, art and craft stalls, demonstrations and traditional and contemporary Pacific Island music and performances.

New Zealand's Pacific Trade and Invest (PTI) Pacific Periscope last month reported that the Fijian delegation included seven Fijian exporters out of 40 from 11 Pacific Island countries that will be exhibiting their products at the event and they will be housed at the specially designed Pasifika Business Market.

Pacific Periscope had reported that participation at Pasifika was an important step for Fijian and Pacific Islands exporters in the PTI NZ Path to Market program, where exporters met potential buyers, importers and distributors face to face.

The Pasifika Business Market will enable visitors to check out traditional Fijian costumes and accessories, see how artisans from Tokelau use time-honoured techniques to create fishing lures from shells, and enjoy dancing and drumming from around the Pacific. It will also enable them to try out Hawaii's smokey barbecue, the Samoan delicacy palusami (best eaten with a nice piece of baked taro) or sample Tuvaluan kaleve, a drink made from coconut sap.

Auckland's iconic Pasifika Festival will be held at the Western Springs Lakeside Park on March 24 and 25 which is next week.

http://fijitimes.com/story.aspx?id=438638