Best-Laid Plans?

The push to get the so-called "Pacific Plan" to move from words on a page to real improvements for the welfare of Pacific Island people will be a hot issue at this month's Pacific Islands Forum (PIF) summit in Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea.

PNG Prime Minister and incoming Forum Chairman Sir Michael Somare has told Pacific Magazine that the plan should take into account the development issues of small Forum members. "It must be planned for the Pacific Island people. Its not going to be a plan where Australia or New Zealand or our colleagues will say 'oh we have a great plan (but) imposition of the ideas come from this one particular region.' No, we don't want that to happen, we want a plan that belongs to the Pacific Island people," Somare says.

Papua New Guinea Prime Minister Sir Michael Somare addresses the Melanesian Spearhead Group meeting in Goroka. Photo Courtesy: PNG Prime Minister's Media Unit

The Pacific Plan espouses a new vision for closer regional cooperation and integration among Pacific Island states, or as Forum Secretary General Greg Urwin puts it, "add(ing) value by identifying where our national priorities can be better served by working together more closely as a region." It is designed to help Pacific Island states cope with globalization through regional cooperation and set targets to achieve economic growth, sustainable development, good governance and security. The plan, which will go to the leaders this month in draft form, includes a long list of proposed activities "that will keep us occupied for many years to come," says Urwin.

While Forum leaders are hopeful that the plan will deliver benefits to their people, there are others within the region who remain concerned that the plan will entrench Australia and New Zealand's domination over Pacific Islands states' internal affairs.

In reality that's something Pacific states can do very little about as Australia and New Zealand have enormous influence over their trade, economies and political affairs, "Pacific Plan" or not. New Zealand allocates more then A$100 million (US$76.6 million) to the region and Australia A$463 million (US$355 million) in the 2005-2006 year. The two regional powers also foot a large chunk of the Forum Secretariat's annual budget of US$8.5 million.

The barriers to Pacific Island states selling their products in Australian and New Zealand markets, and access of Pacific Islanders to the Australian labor market, will also feature prominently at this month's summit.

Australia's Parliamentary Secretary for Foreign Affairs, Bruce Bilson, recently said that his government is considering whether to give workers from the South Pacific special labor access. Bilson says detailed research is being done on the matter, but suggested Australia would expect some reciprocity if special access was granted.

Meanwhile, Somare, who toured a garment factory belonging to United Apparel Limited (UPL) during a recent visit to Fiji, is adamant that there are untapped markets for Pacific Island states' products in Australia and New Zealand.

For example, he says the region's garment market is still dominated by China, whose trade volume with the 14 Forum countries-excluding Australia and New Zealand-stood at US$500 million last year.

The pitfalls of further opening Pacific Island markets to Australian and New Zealand goods will also be discussed by Forum leaders. That's not a new discussion; it has been happening since the beginning of the Pacific Island Countries Trade Agreement (PICTA) and Pacific Agreement on Closer Economic Relations (PACER) negotiations, but it seems to have gained new impetus. Papua New Guinea Trade Minister Paul Tiensten recently told Parliament that Forum countries face the prospects of dropping their trade barriers to Australia and New Zealand earlier than planned under the already scheduled PICTA, leading to massive revenue losses.

At press time, the tit-for-tat banning of biscuits and kava between Fiji and Vanuatu was still unresolved, further challenging the efficacy of PICTA.

As Forum leaders pack their suitcases to fly to Port Moresby for the summit, Tiensten encourages them to look further ahead, toward aggressively pushing for some US$62.3 billion in trade and development funds that the European Union has available for African, Caribbean and Pacific states.

He warned leaders during the recent Melanesian Spearhead Group (MSG) summit in Goroka that the region's 14 ACP states were not as aggressive as their African and Caribbean colleagues in negotiating for aid offered under the EU program.

There has been some talk among government officials representing Forum member countries that Australia and New Zealand have been pushing regional trade agreements such as PACER to ward off economic competition posed by the EU.

As the EU's importance as a trade and development partner with the region's 14 ACP states grows, Australia and New Zealand will watch with interest any moves by the Forum Secretariat to get approval for new "associate member" status for French territories New Caledonia and French Polynesia-who together with Timor Leste are observers at the Forum. French Polynesian President Oscar Temaru has indicated his preference would be for full member status.

It's unclear how forcefully the status of another close neighbor, West Papua, will be raised. Papua New Guinea prevented Vanuatu from including a West Papuan observer, Otto Ondawame, on its delegation to the recent Melanesian Spearhead Group meeting. In response, Vanuatu objected to Indonesia's request to have its representatives observe the meeting.

That's not an issue that will go away, despite the best efforts of some Forum members to ignore it.