Around the world, the pace is quickening in the process to determine what comes after the Millennium Development Goals expire in 2015. As custodians of the world’s largest ocean and home to some of its most vulnerable countries, the Pacific has a significant stake in redefining the global approach to development.
Melanesian leaders are now gathering in Noumea, New Caledonia for the Melanesian Spearhead Group (MSG) Summit. This is a historic gathering to celebrate 25 years of its existence and to transition its leadership from Fiji to the FLNKS in New Caledonia. West Papua is also poised to win membership. Follow our full coverage of this summit.
Political leaders and officials from Fiji, Papua New Guinea (PNG), Solomon Islands, Vanuatu and New Caledonia’s indigenous political movement—the Front De Libération Nationale Kanak et Socialiste (FLNKS)—have gathered in Noumea for the Melanesian Spearhead Group (MSG) summit.
‘Business as usual is not a viable option. We are no longer on the same development journey that we began at the start of the new millennium. We must build a framework for the next era of global development that is legitimate and relevant, truly reflecting the development aspirations and challenges of people everywhere.’ – The Dili Consensus
Around the world, the pace is quickening in the process to determine what comes after the Millennium Development Goals expire in 2015. As custodians of the world’s largest ocean and home to some of its most vulnerable countries, the Pacific has a significant stake in redefining the global approach to development.
In its latest Discussion Starter, BLUE MARBLE – The Pacific in the post-2015 development agenda [PDF download], the Pacific Institute of Public Policy (PiPP) investigates the need for a new perspective on development, one which encompasses peace-building, state-building and well-being as fundamental prerequisites for development. It tracks the efforts of new and vulnerable developing nations to build a new vision to guide global development past 2015, when the Millennium Development Goals expire.
Attendees at the Pacific Island Round Table in Dili, Timor Leste, March 2013
By Makereta Komai, PACNEWS Editor
Fiji’s full return to all levels of Pacific ACP (African, Caribbean & Pacific) meetings on November 21 last year was ‘historical’ in many sense of the word. Historical because the decision was resolved in a truly ‘Pacific Way’ as described by Cook Islands Prime Minister Henry Puna. “The Pacific came together as a family and dealt with an important issue in a way that a family should – a Pacific Way.’
Also historic in the sense that Pacific ACP leaders created their own ‘space’ to discuss an unresolved long outstanding issue – Fiji’s full participation – without the presence of the Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat (PIFS) executives in the room. PIFS executives were in Port Moresby to assist the chair of PACP facilitate discussions. The Forum Secretariat plays a key role in the relations between Pacific ACP countries and the European Union. Apart from facilitating the meeting of PACP leaders, the Secretariat’s Secretary General is also the Regional Authorising Officer (RAO) for the European Development Fund (EDF), the development funding assistance that forms the basis of the PACP/EU relationship.
Papua New Guinea’s offer to fund and host an interim secretariat for PACP leaders – away from the Suva-based Forum Secretariat – was a significant milestone of the Port Moresby meeting. As one trade expert in the region explained to me, ‘In PACP relations with the EU, the real power lies in who controls EU development assistance to the region. Right now, that power is in the hands of PIFS Secretary General.’ After Port Moresby, Pacific ACP leaders need to determine where to locate the RAO for the Pacific region.
While that is an issue best left to PACP leaders, the first step to shift PACP responsibilities away from the Forum Secretariat is a ‘bold step,’ said the regional trade expert who is familiar with the PACP relations with the EU.
That bold step is part of the new reformed regional thinking that has emerged in the past five years or so – for Pacific Islanders and their leaders to determine what’s in their best interest without the influence or control of donors and development partners.
This week on Pacific Politics: PiPPtalks - MSG Secretariat Director General Peter Forau discusses the organisation's identity and purpose; Dan McGarry looks at the West Papuan independence movement's long road to freedom; a photo essay on the MSG's Eminent Persons Group and much more....
PiPP is pleased to present its latest tool in understanding the state of mobile phone and internet use in Vanuatu. This infographic encapsulates the key findings from our 2011 study of social and economic effects of telecoms in Vanuatu. Please contact us for a printed copy or click here for the downloadable graphic.
