Islands Business - New Caledonia wants closer ties to Forum

CAIRNS, Australia ----- As Pacific leaders meet in Cairns this week, a delegation from New Caledonia is lobbying to upgrade its status beyond associate membership of the Pacific Islands Forum.

Harold Martin...former President of New Caledonia. Photo: Courtesy of the
Australian Government, Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet.

Delegation leader Harold Martin, the former President of New Caledonia, says that all parties, whether supporters or opponents of independence, were agreed that New Caledonia should strengthen its relationship with the region.

“In the past we weren’t interested in the islands region and looked more to Paris”, he said. “But the era of French nuclear testing and all that is far behind us. Since the Forum leaders meeting in Tonga in 2007, I’ve been lobbying to increase our status to be a full member of the Forum.”

Under the 1998 Noumea Accord, New Caledonia has the capacity to participate in regional organisations in its own right. New Caledonia hosts the Secretariat of the Pacific Community (SPC) in Noumea and is active in regional organisations like SPREP. But it cannot accede to full membership of the Forum, which unites the independent island states of the region with Australia and New Zealand.

Even though it is a Melanesian nation, New Caledonia also does not have full membership of the Melanesian Spearhead Group (MSG). In place of the Government of New Caledonia, the independence coalition Front de Libération Nationale Kanak et Socialiste (FLNKS) attends MSG meetings as a member, alongside the governments of Papua New Guinea, Fiji, Vanuatu and Solomon Islands.

Since the end of French nuclear testing in 1996 and the signing of the Noumea Accord, regional relations have improved significantly and both New Caledonia and French Polynesia have upgraded their status from observer to associate member of the Forum. But Harold Martin believes that New Caledonia can further expand its ties to the region.

“We think the next phase is to strengthen links through co-operation on topics of common concern, like climate change, renewable energy or work on coral reefs. We hope to share green technologies and to promote cultural ties,” he says.

“We also see sport as a way of building links – we’ll be hosting the South Pacific Games in 2011 and are planning a swimming centre in Noumea where we hope Pacific swimming champions will train.”

The previous government in New Caledonia established a series of working groups to investigate whether New Caledonia should sign the Pacific Island Countries Trade Agreement (PICTA). But Martin says that this work, involving community, union and business leaders as well as government officials, has faltered.

“The PICTA dossier hasn’t advanced very far,” he acknowledged. “Before joining PICTA, first we need to sort out a few issues between us and French Polynesia. These relate to taxation issues, import taxes and other matters, before we join a formal agreement with the region.”

Under the Noumea Accord, the local government and Congress in Noumea is gradually taking up a range of administrative and legislative powers from France, supported by ongoing funding from Paris. After local elections in May, politicians in New Caledonia’s newly elected Congress are looking at the timetable to transfer the next tranche of powers, including secondary education which will transfer control of a huge budget and staff to Noumea.

Harold Martin says that France’s Conseil Constitutionel has approved recent changes to the organic law for New Caledonia – legislation which entrenches the Noumea Accord into law in France – which will guarantee much needed finance to run the education system. He says: “New Caledonia’s administration already controls primary education, but the next transfer of powers will see the shift of secondary education and the private schools which will really boost our budget.”

Martin, currently the speaker of New Caledonia’s Congress, was joined in Cairns by Vice President Pierre Ngaiohni, President of the Northern Province Paul Neaoutyine and other delegates. Newly elected President of New Caledonia Philippe Gomes was scheduled to head the delegation, but withdrew at the last minute to deal with a political crisis at home.

France has sent extra paramilitary police to Noumea, following violent clashes between police and union activists from the USTKE trade union confederation. Over the last two weeks, following a long running dispute with the local airline Aircal and the jailing of USTKE leader Gerard Jodar, there has been a series of protests and strikes, which have seen numerous arrests and injuries to strikers and police, including one officer wounded by gunfire.