[§201‑17]  Office of internationalaffairs; established.  (a)  There is established, within the department ofbusiness, economic development, and tourism, an office of internationalaffairs.

(b)  The office shall:

(1)  Develop policies that promote and strengthenrelations with other countries in the areas of international business, economy,culture, and the arts;

(2)  Develop policies that promote transportationbetween, and tourism with, other countries;

(3)  Develop and promote international telecommunicationsand high technology exchanges;

(4)  Encourage the development of internationalsister-city programs, pairing Hawaii cities with cities around the globe forartistic, cultural, economic, educational, and faith-based exchanges;

(5)  Develop and promote Hawaii as the economic,trade, commerce, transportation, banking, and tourism hub of the Pacific;

(6)  Develop an international affairs and peaceeducation curriculum that includes studies of international affairs and peaceinitiatives and takes a proactive, strategic approach to the development ofpolicies that promote the prevention of national and international conflict,nonviolent intervention, mediation, peaceful resolution of conflict, andstructured mediation of conflict; and

(7)  Provide for exchanges of individuals betweenHawaii and other nations to develop international and peace-based initiatives.

(c)  Notwithstanding any other law to thecontrary, if any of the responsibilities or duties of the office ofinternational affairs under this section overlap with the responsibilities orduties of another agency or authority under this chapter, the office ofinternational affairs shall have exclusive jurisdiction and authority overthose responsibilities and duties. [L 2006, c 172, §2]