the public service employees to ensure that their concerns are addressed in an honest and professional manner. public service commissioners must actively ensure that their officers are rewarded for their performance, and benefit from organized trainings that would enhance the officers ’ abilities. these can be challenging issues, because they will certainly mean securing more finance and changing of procedures. but if public services must compete for the best talents in the market these are necessary changes to tackle as part of their strategies for talent management in the public service. conclusion in conclusion, the challenge faced by pacific public service commissioners in addressing brain - drain and managing the mobility of talented and skilled professionals is made more difficult when affordability is the key barrier. graeme dobel of abc radio australia sums the issue in stating that “ a free person with skills is still a free person ”. we are dealing with free individuals whose choices to market their skills to bring the maximum benefit to themselves will cause them to leave their public service employment. public service commissioners must therefore be creative in finding solutions for attracting and retaining talented individuals. this means we must have to make some necessary changes in the manner we handle the remuneration packages and working conditions for the skilled and talented professionals we want to attract and retain. thank you for listening and i wish you all success in your conference. references asian development bank, 2008. pacific monitor, www. adb. org / pacific monitor. dobel, g. 2006. “ australia confronts its pacific taboo : pacific workers ”, pacific economic bulletin, volume 21, no. 3 november 2006, p. 128. goffee r. and jones g. 2007. “ leading clever people ”, harvard business review, march 2007. world health organization, 2005. “ migration of health personnel ”, paper ( wpr / icp / ecp / 7. 2 / 001 / ecp ( 11 ) 2005. 4 ) presented at ministers of heath for pacific countries, samoa, 2005.

this additional facility to conduct their banking business. this branch certainly has a modern look and feel about it. i feel as if i am in an bis central bankers ’ speeches anz branch in sydney or brisbane. anz has certainly raised its standard in terms of its facilities. i know it is not cheap but this is what i mean when i say that solomon islands deserve the best or world class facilities and products and not the “ fitim solomon ” facilities or products. update on si economy let me provide a brief update on our recent economic performance. at the beginning of this year we projected the solomon islands economy to grow by around 6 percent, slightly lower than last year. based on available data for the last seven months, it appears that growth for 2011 would be the same or even higher than last year. economic performance in the first half of 2011 had been robust with key macroeconomic indicators showing positive outcomes. in the real sector the production of all commodities were strong in the first half of 2011 with copra doubling, palm oil up 14 %, cocoa up 26 %, fish up 17 % and logs up by 50 %. of great interest is log production, with total output up to july reaching 1, 143, 222 cubic meters. at this rate, total log production for 2011 would reach 1. 9 – 2. 0 million cubic meters. gold production has also come on stream and is contributing to the country ’ s exports and growth. in the external sector, strong commodity prices and production have led to : improvements in the trade account with the june quarter posting a trade surplus, the first since 2006. marked improvement in export receipts, lower import payments, donor and investment inflows contributed to the positive outcome in the external sector. as a result, foreign reserves rose by 24 % to sbd $ 2. 6 billion by last week, or equivalent to over 10 months of import cover. in the monetary sector, money supply ( m3 ) grew by a moderate 3. 0 % as opposed to 0. 8 % growth in the same period last year. at the same time credit growth has been subdued resulting in : a 22 % increase in liquidity since december 2010 despite the central bank absorbing more than $ 200 million of this liquidity from the banking system. in terms of government finances, the country ’ s fiscal position has improved markedly. with sound fiscal management, revenue collection has increased and expenditure contained within budget allocations. the government had been able to build up its cash reserves. on