Opinion

The last three years have certainly been amongst the most difficult in the history of the Pacific Islands Forum.

New Zealand, more particularly Auckland, has been the dream destination for Polynesian Pacific islanders for more than two generations now. Historical ties between the Polynesian islands from well before they became independent states 30 to 50 years ago have established a deep connection between the people of Samoa, Tonga, Niue ...

February and March are two months that have become important months for many things Pacific—particularly arts, crafts and culture—in the islands’ two big industrialised neighbours, Australia and New Zealand. Being the first significant events after the extended year-end holiday period, they bring with them a certain freshness and a sense ...

Fiji will take on its role as chair of G77—a significant group of developing nations from across the world—this year. It was elected to the post on September 28 last year at the United Nations in New York.

‘...the IRB’s response to the Fiji Rugby Union’s complaint is like the lax school principal who winks at the bullying student as he reprimands him. Rugby’s top world body needs to treat the Pacific—the source of some of the game’s best players—with far more respect’

‘The Pacific will continue to rise in importance geopolitically for the United States, which rightly believes it has some catching up to do with Asian powers in the region, particularly China. President Obama’s new administration will align ever more closely with Australia and New Zealand as could be gleaned from ...

‘…the elephant in the room is the Asian fishing conglomerates, notably China. Tiny, powerless islands governments are at the mercy of the Chinese juggernaut when it comes to exploitation of marine resources in their own sovereign territorial waters. Unlike powerful western nations like the United States, the small Pacific islands ...

‘Many of the Pacific Islands countries have already cast their lot with China and by extension most things that China has to offer, including telecommunication technologies. If the standoff between the west and China on the issue of telecommunications security continues, it could quite easily lead to a trade war ...

‘Fiji’s poor citizens have missed out on a huge opportunity to better their living standards because of these illogically unreasonable restrictions that ostensibly are aimed at hurting the interim administration. While it has made little difference to the administration, it has hurt people badly by keeping them out of the ...

On September 27, the EPA (Economic Partnership Agreement) negotiations between the European Union (EU) and the African Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) states turned 10.

‘It is heartening to see that an event promoting women in business is bringing together women entrepreneurs, academics, financial and business experts, bankers and women media persons together in Fiji this month to identify the ongoing challenges women face in their business endeavours and deliberate on finding solutions’

This is the danger of a Pan regional branding. National brands could easily be subsumed under a regional "umbrella" brand to the disadvantage of national brands and the efforts of individual entrepreneurs who have worked to create these brands and bring them up to where they are. No wonder more ...

Reflecting on this year's successful Pacific Forum Leaders' Summit in the idyllic island paradise of the Cook Islands, one might ask if we are witnessing a renaissance in this long-overlooked region.

The population depletion and brain drain problem has now reached a tipping point. The islands now face a reverse phenomenon. Many of them now have to rely on foreign workers from Asia and Africa to fill vacant capacity in their businesses—particularly in the highly labour intensive tourism and hospitality sector.

The media's role is said to be to hold a mirror to the government and to society without fear or favour. But Pacific media practitioners and academics are doing a disservice to their professions and to media consumers at large as they continue blackening one other's faces putting their narrow ...

‘The young grouping needs to get its priorities right. It appears to have too many irons in the fire with little by way of a firm plan or strategy to give a meaningful shape to them’

‘How and why have Asian growers overtaken fruit and vegetable exports from the islands? The answers are not far to seek. What separates Pacific Islands and Asian grower exporters like those from the Philippines are economies of scale, reliable supply chain systems and management, investment in technology and strong partnerships ...

‘The United States obviously realises it is already too late to catch up with China’s boat that is well into the waters of several Pacific Islands nations with a wide range of cooperation initiatives, including financial assistance and infrastructure projects. It will be interesting to see what measures it (US) ...

‘These announcements reflect the rising confidence of New Zealand and Australia that the Fiji leadership is on the right track, although they couldn’t be caught dead saying it in so many words in the media. In their pronouncements, both countries have been cautious. Despite their financial commitments, they still continue ...

‘The Pacific islands are not immune to this scenario. Illegal immigration is rife throughout the islands region. Much of it is under the radar because of well oiled networks of people smugglers from overseas being in cahoots with local officials of islands governments—even ministers and elected representatives in many instances—and ...

‘In recent years, there have been several attempts to look at ways of reducing the islands’ aid dependency. One of these ideas proposed and espoused by the Pacific Islands Forum for sometime now is aid for trade. This involves promoting trade mechanisms and human capacities between countries within and outside ...

PNG had its national election last month. The results are probably out by now. And the new government will be taking office anytime soon. Here, I report on my week-long observation of the election campaign in the highlands of this colourful country.

The airline industry is one of the few real global industries that transcends international borders. Safety, therefore, is of paramount importance not only to the airlines but also to the states that the airlines operate to.

"China has played its game in the Pacific cleverly. It has employed what is termed as ‘soft power’ to win influence. It has extended the hand of unconditional friendship and one cannot say there has been coercion or threatens of any sort. That is one of the reasons why its ...

‘At the end of Rio+20, no binding agreements were arrived at or signed on. None of the overarching commitments that have been repeatedly sought after at such mega events previously were to be seen. Rather, a feel good document was put out with several initiatives agreed to, mostly informally, by ...

One of the most important and crucial factors in encouraging the growth of any regional economy is the ability of people to move freely between countries around that region, not just for employment but also for developing trade and business links.

One of the pithier definitions of news is,‘something that someone somewhere doesn’t want you to know’. More often than not, that someone is in a position of power—either in government or in business— and what they don’t want you to know is some shady thing that has been done at ...

For many months now the Pacific has been waiting, just waiting for the EU to finally respond to its proposals for ending the EPA negotiations.

The Australia-PNG Business Council (APNGBC) held its 28th Business Forum on the theme “Today’s Opportunity: Tomorrow’s Prosperity” in Brisbane from May 13-15.

Last month’s Ministerial Contact Group (MCG) meeting was a potential game changer that ended up simply reaffirming the sanctions status quo.

This month, thousands of the world’s political leaders, scientists, corporate heads and representatives from civil society, non government organisations and interest groups will gather at the UN Conference on Sustainable Development (better known as the Rio+20 summit) in Brazil.

Geopolitical groupings all over the world—more so groupings of developing countries that are funded by nations of the developed world—find themselves caught up in an escalating state of flux as strong winds of change blowing from different directions begin to disturb the long established status quo.

This month, yet another mega-jamboree aimed at saving the world will be held at Rio de Janeiro in Brazil. Called the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development, or by the catchy Rio+20 in commemoration of the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) that was held in the same ...

New Zealand’s National Party was elected in 2008 on the back of a popular vote and John Key turned out to be the most popular prime minister ever throughout the first term. But that mandate, popularity and goodwill were largely wasted, with his government avoiding taking tough economic decisions, instead ...

The Australian Government introduced the Pacific Seasonal Worker Pilot Scheme (PSWPS) in 2008 to allow Pacific Islanders to work in Australia as fruit and vegetable-pickers for periods of up to six months.

In the past few years, the Pacific region has witnessed the meteoric rise of the Melanesian Spearhead Group, comprising the four Melanesian Pacific Islands nations of Papua New Guinea, Fiji, Solomon Islands and Vanuatu (the FLNKS —Front de Libération Nationale Kanak et Socialiste, the militant socialist pro-independence alliance of political ...

The United States’ renewed interest in the region in the wake of big Asian powers digging in their heels deeper in the Pacific Islands and dropping their heavy anchors in the vast, rich ocean around them is what may bring closure to a serious, long-standing problem in the Marshall Islands.

The Pacific Islands News Association’s call to the region’s fractious media organisations to work together and move forward at its Fiji convention in late March must be welcomed.

Many Pacific governments want to send more workers to Australia and New Zealand to allow islanders to earn much-needed cash incomes and send money home for their families and local communities.