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Pacific Islands Forum leaders face up to challenges of regional development

English.news.cn2011-09-06 14:59:47

AUCKLAND, New Zealand, Sept. 6 (Xinhua) -- The small island nations of the Pacific Islands Forum (PIF) were Tuesday issued with a stark warning on the dangers of climate change to the region's development.

The Forum Secretariat was committed to ensuring the Forum would redefine the global development cooperation agenda, Secretariat Secretary General Tuiloma Neroni Slade said, outlining the scale of the threat at the 20th Small Island States (SIS) Leaders' Meeting.

"Climate change remains the overwhelming challenge in our development pursuits," Slade told SIS leaders on the opening day of the annual Forum in New Zealand.

Since the Copenhagen and Cancun global climate conferences, regional governments had been considering how to better manage the flow and use of the greater available resources.

The country experience was important to shape the Forum's position "as we seek to influence the outcomes and negotiations at the upcoming Fourth High Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness in Busan, Korea, in November," said Slade.

Slade laid out "key priority areas" to address long term challenges of the SIS, which were not new, but required " refocusing and re-energizing of efforts with the mobilization and coordination of limited resources" in order to effectively target responses to the region's main challenges.

"The devastating impact of non-communicable diseases on lives and livelihoods of all Pacific peoples is a crisis of serious magnitude which needs to be addressed with immediacy by all governments of the region," said Slade.

The other priorities identified by Slade included stronger development coordination; education and health; transport, particularly sub-regional shipping services; trade agreements and labor mobility to enable economic integration; and renewable energy and bulk fuel procurement.

QUESTIONING PRIORITIES

The crisis of rising sea levels facing many of the smaller Pacific island nations looks set to become a recurring issue as later in a press conference. New Zealand Prime Minister John Key, who is chairing the forum, was forced to defend his country's policy on giving aid to smaller Pacific neighbors based on a development requirement.

Key was responding to a question on whether New Zealand had its priorities right when it was helping to build cruise ship facilities in Kiribati, while that nation was seeking funding for seawalls to stop rising ocean levels.

Asked if the New Zealand government policy of tying aid to development was helpful to a country that needed sea walls, Key said development was also a priority for Kiribati and other small Pacific nations.

Key also brushed off suggestions of a division among forum members over the exclusion of Fiji, which has been excluded from the Pacific Islands Forum since May 2009.

Key said he had held discussions with Pacific leaders Tuesday morning and the "general consensus" was that Fiji should continue to be excluded.

New Zealand would continue to engage in dialogue with Fiji and was "ready, willing and able to help Fiji" should the need arise.

Other Pacific leaders had expressed the view that they would " like to see Fiji return to the fold," but the "forum's position on excluding Fiji should be maintained."

He called on Fiji's military administration to hold to its commitment to elections in 2014.

Key also ruled out stepping up New Zealand's assistance for refugees arriving in neighboring Australia, saying his government was "happy to have a discussion with Australia," but the answer was "no in terms of hosting a refugee processing station."

Key said he would be holding talks with Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard during the Forum, but "there's no specific proposal on the table to advance that."

He said Australia's geographical position made it more of a target for refugees, but no country was immune to the issue.

SAFETY AND SECURITY

Key also unveiled a range of initiatives to improve maritime safety in the Pacific, where sea transport provides vital lifelines for smaller nations, and to improve tsunami precautions.

Maritime safety initiatives included: Training for personnel operating Tonga's new inter-island ferry service, and support for staff at Tonga's Ministry of Transport; Assistance for the Cook Islands in establishing new safety regulations, and funding a subsidy for safety equipment and personnel training; and Assistance for Kiribati with search and rescue, including a locally-based search and rescue advisor and small vessel safety equipment.

Land Information New Zealand, a government agency, would also provide support for improving navigational charts.

The region was also prone to cyclones, floods, tsunami and other catastrophic disasters that could wipe out hard-won development gains in minutes, said Key.

New Zealand would invest 2.7 million NZ dollars (2.24 million U. S. dollars) over the coming year to upgrade tsunami risk management systems in the Cook Islands, Samoa, Tonga, Niue and Tokelau.

SUSTAINABLE FUTURE

The New Zealand government has been preparing an agenda that focuses on what it describes as sustainable development for the Pacific based on the "economic drivers" of tourism, fisheries and agriculture.

In a speech Monday, Foreign Minister Murray McCully also identified energy, infrastructure and construction as the "three enablers" critical to the region's future.

Many Pacific Island countries were still close to 100-percent dependent on fossil fuels for power generation, and small markets and long supply chains meant energy costs were high, McCully said.

Imported fuel typically accounted for around 15 percent of the GDP of Pacific countries, he said.

Reducing reliance on imported fuels, particularly for electricity generation, could significantly reduce business costs and reduce pressure on the balance of payments of most Pacific nations.

McCully also pledged to continue New Zealand assistance to the Solomon Islands with a commitment of 25 million NZ dollars to infrastructure projects in the troubled Pacific Island nation.

McCully and Solomon Islands Foreign Minister Peter Shanel Agovaka signed a Joint Commitment for Development, setting out New Zealand support as the Regional Assistance Mission to the Solomon Islands (RAMSI) winds down.

The agreement would focus on improving critical transport infrastructure, fisheries development, improving the business environment, education, policing, law and justice.

It would also aim to improve literacy and numeracy rates at primary schools and increase the number of certified teachers.

Fifteen Pacific Islands Forum nations contributed to RAMSI when it was established in 2003 at the request of the Solomon Islands government to stop the nation descending into chaos after years of ethnic tensions and a coup in 2000.

The Pacific Islands Forum is being held in Auckland from Sept. 6 to 9.

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