PM Key leads delegation to the islands

Duncan Wilson



New Zealand Prime Minister John Key says his decision to lead the annual Pacific trip underlines his government’s new commitment to the region.
The delegation of politicians, businesspeople, non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and officials will meet their counterparts in Samoa, Tonga, the Cook Islands and Niue from 7 to 10 July.
The Prime Minister’s leadership contrasts with the previous Labour Government, which assigned Foreign Ministers to the task.
“It is important that we continue to foster, support and reinforce our relationship with our Pacific neighbours through these people to people contacts,” the Prime Minister’s spokesperson told ISLANDS BUSINESS.
“Among issues for discussion will be the impact of the global economic crisis on Pacific Islands communities and the priorities for the Pacific Islands Forum Leaders meeting to be held in Cairns in August.”
Key’s official engagements include meetings with his counterparts in Tonga, Samoa, Niue and the Cook Islands. He hopes to also meet with  tourism industry representatives as part of his tourism portfolio.
The National Party has argued for several years for fresh thinking on New Zealand’s relationship with the Pacific.
In Opposition, Murray McCully, now Minister of Foreign Affairs, pushed for greater aid to the region, which in 2008 stood at some 53% of the country’s total overseas development assistance.
He also pressed the merits of “going beyond the UN-derived mandate of poverty elimination” as the islands struggle with lack of jobs and basic economic development infrastructure.
The May 28 Budget confirmed this new direction, and provided for significant development increases over several years.
The government says these changes were all the more urgent as the global economic downturn hit Pacific nations, many already struggling under the commodity and fuel price shocks of 2007 and 2008.
McCully told the Pacific Cooperation Foundation’s Pacific Wave conference in June that the downturn reduced the islands’ exports, trust funds and investments, and caused a decline in tourism, employment and remittances.
A joint study the government initiated with Australia on the impact of the recession in the Pacific is expected to confirm that the islands will face low to negative growth for some time yet.
The national government says trade is the key driver for economic development in the Pacific. It says measurable increases in Pacific Islands’ exports and income levels will be an important gauge of the country’s efforts. That is why this trip is so important.
Get things moving
Business delegate head and New Zealand Pacific Business Council chair, Gilbert Ullrich, says direct interaction with other business associations, from Samoa’s Chamber of Commerce to Enterprise Niue, should boost business cooperation at a crucial time.
“New Zealand-Pacific trade has been affected by the recession, no doubt. But with the Prime Minister along, there is a real impetus to get things moving. His role will ensure our profile is particularly strong, especially as he is well-regarded among other Pacific leaders for his business acumen and grasp of the world economic downturn.”
Ullrich says the business delegation will focus on key industries such as manufacturing and fisheries. However, there is mutual interest in niche area joint ventures such as seaweed farming and the production of coconut oil and noni juice.
This emphasis on economic development even extends to the NGO delegation. Barry Coates, head of Oxfam and New Zealand’s major NGO umbrella group the Council for International Development, sees the trip’s value in the opportunity to make connections between government, the private sector and NGOs—“especially because those last two sectors in the Pacific have so much richness.
“Often there is an assumption that economic development consists of the private sector entering the Pacific and starting up a company, but that development frequently comes from the grassroots level, the efforts of the family and community to growing business from the ground up and improve livelihoods.”
Coates points to the success of Samoa’s NGO Women in Business, which uses skilled craftspeople to teach rural women how to make jewellery and organic products for sale at village markets or for export.
“We’ve worked with that organisation and many others in the Pacific, and Women in Business is a good example of the kind of activity that the government is keen to promote, because the organisation is concerned with development ‘from the ground up’, with a particular focus on improving livelihoods in rural areas, and an emphasis on measurable goals.”
New Zealand’s officials will also meet their counterparts and tinker with economic policies to better account for the Government’s emphasis on the Pacific Islands’ trade-based recovery. Officials suggest this should be most evident in the negotiations over the Pacific liberalisation zone, the Pacific Agreement on Closer Economic Relations (PACER).
The government says in the Pacific, trade policy should depart from the usual “aggressive” promotion of New Zealand’s interests first and foremost, which has emerged over recent years. Instead, the country’s political or people-to-people relationships should be put first, so long as exporters are not put at a disadvantage in relation to another party.
This exercise, along with the business and NGO aspects of this year’s Pacific delegation, certainly underlines the “fresh thinking” the Government promised on the region.