Snippets: Kubuabola New Foreign Minister; Murder Charges; Methodist Dialogue; Sugar and the EU; Lau Wants Help

Ratu Inoke Kubuabola
Government has announced that Ratu Inoke Kubuabola, former leader of Rabuka's SVT party (1999-2000) and SDL Minister in the Qarase interim government following the Speight Coup of 2000, is the new Minister for Foreign Affairs, International Corporation and Civil Aviation. Prior to his appointment, he was High Commissioner to PNG and more recently Fiji's Ambassador to Japan.

Murder Accused: Shades of Ballu Khan
The pre-trial of eight men, arrested in 2007 and accused of plotting to kill PM Bainimarma and other government figures will be held in September, and the full trial next February. NZ readers will remember the alleged plot because it involved Ballu Khan, the so-called NZ businessman, who was later aqcquitted of conspiracy to murder. Go to Read this Blog and type his name for earlier reports.

Radio NZI Suva correspondent Matelita Ragogo had this to say: “A mixed group really. There’s a high chief among them Ratu Inoke Takiveikata; the former intelligence unit director of the army, Metisuela Mua, who is another of them. Sivaniolo Naulago, Feoko Gadekibau, Barbados Mills, Kameli Vosavere, the common element amongst them, apart from the high chief, is their military background.” -- Read in full.

Methodists: Dialogue is the Key
Methodist Assistant General Secretary, Rev.Tevita Nawadra,says dialogue is the key to move the country forward, the church will work with government to achieve this, and will take part in the process to change Fiji's constitution. He said the Church will get the executives together to ensure that they have the same mindset.

It would be unrealistic to expect all church leaders to agree with the new position (inflammatory torchbearers Revs Lasaro and Kanailagi most certainly will not) but one hopes the announcement reflects a shift from their party-political involvement and confrontation approach to the more moderate opinions of people like former Church President Josateki Koroi who earlier advised church leadership to "relook at where the church is heading, especially with the presence of Rev. Manasa Lasaro."

Sugar and the EU
The February floods and problems with new equipment has seriously delayed and diminished sugar exports, adding to Fiji's longstanding problems in the sugar industry, but 27,500 tonnes of raw sugar (some 2,500 tonnes short of quota) have now left for the Tate and Lyle refinery in London for sale to the European Union. The National Farmers' Union is concerned that ongoing shortfalls will mean farmers will receive less, as the UE reduces its present preferential price subsidy by a further 16 percent. The last phase of the 36 per cent price reduction that began in 2007 ends on October 1.

To achieve present prices 90,000 tonnes of sugar need to reach Tate and Lyle before October 1. To achieve this target the first shipment should have been on July 15 with 30,000 tonnes, another 30,000 tonnes by August 15 and the final shipment by September 1 of another 30,000 tonnes. -- Based on Fiji Times.

Lau Group Wants Government to Help Fund Projects
Traditional leaders in eastern Fiji are looking to the Government for assistance in avoiding “empty islands” as their people continue to move to the main land for jobs and higher education. Military Council member and Lau Provincial Council chairman, Col.Ratu Tevita Rokolui Mara, said they want to generate small businesses in the Lau Islands but for this they will need Government assistance. “Can government fund projects that can keep the people there? I suppose we will find a solution to this soon.” The Lomaiviti Group, Kadavu, Rotuma and indeed most remote rural areas in the main islands also face these problems. -- Based on Fiji Live.

NZ Travel Advisories: Fiji "Some Risk"; New Caledonia..?

NZ's MFAT (Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade) offers travel advisories to all countries. At present, Afghanistan is shown as extreme risk; the borders of Iran extreme risk, elsewhere some risk; Fiji and the UK some risk; New Caledonia no risk was noted.

MFAT should listen to Radio NZI. Striking domestic airline workers in New Caledonia have blockaded and shut down the administration in Poindimie in the NE of the main island; and in the capital Noumea, to the south, employers blocked access to a key industrial zone in protest at the disruptions by the strike that has shut many businesses for a second week. "The violence has prompted the territory’s president, Philippe Gomes, to pull out of the Pacific Islands Forum meeting in Cairns, sending instead the Congress president, Harold Martin."

Sorry, MFAT. The dig was irresistible, especially when you persisted in labelled all of Fiji as some risk, when all of Fiji outside Suva has for a long time been no risk, and when no tourist was likely to be targeted anywhere. I wonder how many tourists, intending to visit the no risk area in the West, were deterred by your blanket travel warning ? For the travel advisory for Fiji, issued on 12 April and still current on 4 August, click here.

Map: Lonely Planet.

(+) The Less than Hon. Toke Talagi, Premier of Niue

Unlike many other blogs on Fiji, I do not publish personal attacks on those with whom I disagree, but I’m making this one exception, regrettably on a friendship that goes back over 30 years. Sorry, Toke, but you cannot expect to escape unscathed from your ill-advised, inflammatory remarks in Cairns. I’ve made only minor changes to the email that follows, to protect the identity of the sender, although he didn’t think it necessary.

Bula, Croz

I have been in Fiji for about 18 years now, and understand very well the nuances of Fiji society, and have abhorred the blatant manipulation of the ordinary Fiji bloke and the corruption that appeared to be entrenching itself ever deeper into the ‘elite’ with every passing year.

I am the manager of a large business in Fiji and therefore responsible for the daily welfare of a lot of people.

Consequently, it is of great concern when I see on the Aussie news tonight, that the Premier of Niue, the equivalent of a small town mayor in NZ (population-wise), and a sycophant of the inhabitants of the Beehive, calling for Fijians to “rise up” against the Military Regime. Does he really mean what he says? Does he understand what he is saying? If the answer is “Yes” to both, then he really ought to be severely admonished - by someone infinitely more erudite than I

What a retard!

Obviously, the intellectual requirement for the position of Premier of Niue is an IQ somewhat lower than that of a dalo.

I cannot really articulate the thoughts that go through my mind when thinking of the meaning of “Rise Up”, but I’m sure you understand:

rebel: take part in a rebellion; renounce a former allegiance; rebellion: organized opposition to authority; a conflict in which one faction tries to wrest control from another

All of which conjures up thoughts of blood, misery, death and tears.

Whilst I think that the likelihood of an insurrection is fairly remote, to advocate revolution by the masses is grossly irresponsible, and a question also arises, “Did someone put him up to it?”

Kind regards,

Cornelius

Extract from the Cairns Press Release

CAIRNS, Australia (AFP)--Fijians should rise against Voreqe Bainimarama's military regime and take their destiny into their own hands, the outgoing chairman of the 16-nation Pacific Islands Forum, Hon. Toke Talagi, Premier of Niue, said Tuesday. "After all the people of Fiji must also take responsibility for the reconstruction, and the future and their own destiny."

Click here for the full document. Photo: Toke Talagi. ABC.

(+) Cairns: What's Going On Here?

One of my informants in Fiji writes:

"An interesting development (yet to be confirmed) is that a number of Fijian groups and people strongly opposed to Fiji's regime have been invited to Cairns by the Forum Secretariat. They include lawyers, women's groups and human rights people. If true, this is a very surprising move and a very biased one, carefully calculated to incite opposition to Fiji."

Photo: One-eyed pirate.

(o)Fiji's Isolation Must Not be Ignored by Pacific Leaders

Some critics of the Fiji military regime condemned the presence of two representatives of the interim administration at the Pacific Islands News Association (PINA) conference in Port Vila last week. Lance Corporal Talei Tora, who studied at the University of the South Pacific's regional journalism programme and is a former radio broadcaster, was a surprise speaker on a "Shooting the messenger" panel. She said the military had every right to be at the convention as a paid member of PINA.

AUCKLAND (NZH Online/Pacific Media Watch): Fiji is far too important to be left out of the Pacific Islands equation. This week's Pacific Forum leaders' annual meeting in Cairns has regional trade and the global financial crisis on its main agenda. Fiji - which has dominated the past two forum meetings - is rather determinedly relegated to the margins, but its shadow is bound to creep over the deliberations.

Like it did at last week's biannual media summit of the Pacific Island News Association(PINA) in Vanuatu.

Fiji was the elephant in the room. As panel discussions on topics ranging from media freedom to "shooting the messenger" proceeded, it proved increasingly harder for the delegates to ignore the looming presence of two representatives of Fiji's interim military administration's Ministry of Information in the room.

Attended by nearly 200 delegates from all over the Pacific Islands, Australia and New Zealand drawn from the media, Government and regional and international aid agencies, discussions on the state of the media in Fiji were widely expected at this year's event. Some of the topics for the panel were clearly aimed at discussing the issue threadbare.

Read more...


At one of the sessions editorial staff at Rupert Murdoch's News Limited-owned Fiji Times - which celebrates 140 years of publishing next month - described what it was like to work in the presence of censors in the newsroom and instances when journalists were hauled up for questioning.

Soon after the emergency regulations began to be enforced, the paper left blank spaces in its editorial pages in protest, which, too, was seen as a breach of the regulations by the Information Ministry.

At question time, Pacific Island media representatives bluntly asked why representatives of an organisation that had clamped down on the media so drastically were allowed to attend the proceedings.

They wanted to know if they were spying. The atmosphere turned tense when some delegates demanded that the two military personnel be asked to leave the room.

Unbeknown to the delegates though, the media summit organisers had managed their own coup of sorts to put the military's representatives on the spot. They had convinced one of them, Lance Corporal Talei Tora, to sit on the panel titled "shooting the messenger" to which she had agreed. The other panelist was the editor of the Fiji Times, Netani Rika.

While bemoaning the clampdown on the media, Rika also criticised anonymous bloggers who further vitiated the atmosphere by giving credence to rumour and challenged them to reveal their identities. He requested the audience to treat the military personnel present there with respect for the duration of the convention, but left the panel after his presentation, saying he could not share the dais with them.

Lance Corporal Tora, who studied at the University of the South Pacific's regional journalism programme and is a former radio broadcaster, said the military had every right to be at the convention on account of being a paid member of the news association and that it was up to the Pina board to expel the Government as a member.

She said she was a civil servant and had a job to do and pointed to a number of cases of inaccurate reporting (for several of which media outlets have since apologised).

The questions flew thick and fast: Would she and her colleague be reporting the proceedings to their military bosses? Would the emergency regulations apply to Fiji journalists now they were in a different country? Would they be liable to action? Tora stood her ground and answered questions with confidence, although she used her comparatively junior rank to express inability to comment on the more sensitive matters.

Meanwhile, the strong demand to move the PINA secretariat away from Fiji that had been gathering momentum over the past few months has been rejected by the new board elected at the convention. PINA has been criticised by its own members for not reacting strongly and soon enough at the military action on Fiji journalists and news outlets.

The rationale for moving the secretariat out of Fiji was because Pina has refrained from including news originating from Fiji in the three-times-a-day Pacific news bulletins it puts out to its members and subscribers through its Pacnews service since the emergency regulations were enforced.

At this week's leaders' forum in Cairns, Samoan Prime Minister Tuilaepa Sailele Malielegaoi is expected to table a motion for a similar long-standing demand to move the Pacific Island Forum Secretariat away from Fiji, especially now Fiji has been suspended from its membership.

It is unlikely to gain traction simply because of the sheer logistics and costs involved - which, if undertaken, will fall on the forum's wealthier members - New Zealand and Australia.

As one senior adviser to the Pacific Forum said recently, the forum needs Fiji far more than Fiji needs the forum.

Commentary by Dev Nadkarni, publisher of www.pacificbusinessonline.com, and former coordinator of the University of the South Pacific regional journalism programme . He is now based in Auckland.

* Comment on this item www.pacificmediacentre.blogspot.com

(B+) The Forum "Line Up" on Fiji at Cairns

One wonders how Australia will handle the Fiji issue at the Forum meeting in Cairns. Chairing the meeting gives it some room to manoeuvre discussion away from Fiji if the discussion is not going its way. It could, for example, put a time limit on discussions (or perfunctorily close the discussion as happened in Apia) saying that climate change, the global economy, and the PACER discussions to follow, are more important.

Whatever it does will require a greater understanding of Pacific sensitivities than has been evident so far, when Australia and New Zealand, with support from Samoa and smaller Island countries, clearly pushed the Forum to suspend Fiji.

The present line up seems to be: Solomon Islands and Vanuatu strongly pro-Fiji; PNG and Kiribati only a little less so; with Tonga, Tuvalu, FSM, Palau and Marhall Islands likely also to support Fiji if the issue is not well handled. On the other side of the ball park are Australia, NZ, Samoa, Cook Islands, Niue and possibly Nauru. Associate members New Caledonia and French Polynesia do not have a vote. With Forum decisions requiring consensus agreement (and so many and so many mixed agendas involved) outcomes are anyone's guess.

What Australia and New Zealand should understand, however, is that if they get their way with anything less than the genuine, voluntary agreement of each and every country, they will be adding fuel to the smoldering accusations of bullying and neo-colonialism that, some way down the road, will work against their long-term interests in the Region.

At issue: Fiji's suspension from the Forum and PACER; Australia and NZ's dominance (and aid diplomacy) in what is supposed to be a meeting of equals, however different member countries may be in size, wealth and influence; the lurking role of China ready to step into Aust.NZ shoes; and, ultimately, the Pacific Plan (click here) and future prospects of regional cooperation.

P.S. One hopes the Samoa representative understands the relocation of the Forum Secretariat from Fiji to you-guess-where is a far smaller issue.

-- Based partly on an Islands Business article on the Stuck in Fiji M.U.D. blogsite.

(o+) "I Will Not Meet Commonwealth Deadline" : Bainimarama Reforms First, then Elections

As predicted -- and as the CMAG group must have known -- Fiji will not comply with the Commonwealth ultimatum to announce elections by September 1 and hold them in November 2010. PM Bainimarama says Fiji will continue on its path to elections in 2014.

There was a time when Government critics accused Bainimarama of inconsistencies and backtracking on promises. No longer. For a long time now, he has been unwaveringly consistent on the reforms he sees as needed before truly representative election can be held. Since Australia, New Zealand and the PI Forum, from whom the Commonwealth takes its lead, are likely to see changes in their stance as a loss of face (not in my book), one hopes that behind-closed-doors diplomacy will now increase, with Fiji being offered all the assistance needed to design and implement the reforms and hold elections no later than 2014. I say "no later" because continuing internal and external obstructions may cause further delays.

My advice to my own government would be:

• Dialogue with the Fiji government, using a stick and carrot approach.
• Concentrate on human rights improvements and the speedy relaxation of the Emergency Regulations.
• Encourage the different parties to talk with each other.
• Encourage "middle Fiji" to cooperate with the government's intended reforms.
  
• Cease dialogue with extreme elements in Fiji who continue to obstruct government plans.
• Progressively relax the travel bans, starting with senior civil servant (non-military) families.
  
• Offer legal and other assistance for Bainimarama's reforms.
  
• Reaffirm your offer of assistance with election preparation.
• Offer access to at least some Forum meetings.
  
• Urge the progressive extension of Forum and Commonwealth benefits.
• Listen to Pacific Island leaders, and seek their help to break the impasse.
• Assist our media and public to better understand the Fiji situation
  
• Appoint new faces to deal with Fiji; people who can find something good to say.
  

Bainimarama told FijiLive that he had issued a roadmap to elections in 2014, which includes a new constitution that assures racial equality and reforms that will address the country’s coup culture. “The governments view is that the best way forward for a truly sustainable democratic Fiji is, Fiji’s Strategic Framework for Change,” said Bainimarama.

He said ministries and departments are engaging in consultations on the Roadmap for Democracy and Sustainable Socio Economic Development (RDSSED) 2009 - 2014. The RDSSED sets out a framework to achieve sustainable democracy, good and just governance, socio economic development and national unity, he said.

He said the objective of the road map is to implement policies to achieve the vision of “A Better Fiji for All” which is consistent with the Peoples' Charter and is linked to the Strategic Framework for Change (SFC).

Bainimarama added that changes entailed in the Charter is about the Electoral System, Parliament, Laws, the Public Service and related institutions including priorities in economic and social development, indigenous institutions, the use of land, food and security, how minority interests are protected and enhanced, Fiji’s relations with former Fiji citizens living overseas, race relations, the relationships between religions in Fiji and many other changes.

He said that integral to this process has been the firm commitment of all stakeholders as well as the Government towards the restoration and sustenance of “true parliamentary democratic governance, stability and peace in Fiji”. Extract. To read in full, click here.

(o+) Is Convicted Con-man Peter Foster Telling the Truth? If so, the 2001 and 2006 Elections Were Rigged!

STOP PRESS. CAN ANY READER PROVIDE INFORMATION ON THE TAPES AND WHETHER ONE WAS IN FACT BROADCAST ON TVFIJI?

"I don't expect anybody for one minute to believe one word Peter Foster says. I'm just a silly bugger who wore the video camera and listening device. Listen to what they say."-- Peter Foster.

Australian convicted con-man Peter Foster (photo*) has been jailed in six countries, been charged with money laundering, selling slimming products without a licence, work permit violations and dubious political and land dealings in Fiji, and has only recently been released from jail in Australia. With this reputation he's difficult to believe, but he's also been an undercover agent for the Australian and British police; a backer of Tupeni Baba's NLUP party in the 2001 Fiji election; a confidant of SDL 2001 and 2006 election strategists Navitilai Nasori and Jale Baba, and, in early 2007, he was "wired" by Fiji's military to secretly tape a meeting with Nasori and Baba. They freely admitted the elections were rigged, and said Qarase and most of his ministers were deep in corrupt practices. The first of these tapes was shown on Fiji TV, before Foster was whisked out of the country to reappear in Vanuatu before extradition to Australia.

Here are his main claims:

• NLTB officers accepted backhanders to arrange land deals for overseas investors.
• The 2000 'Speight' coup was about mahogany deals, not indigenous rights.
• The coup was backed by about 20 businessmen and prominent Fijians. Speight was just a frontman.
• There was a plot to "take out" two key witnesses, Josaia Waqabaca and Macui Navakasuasua, who could identify the 2000 Coup backers.
• Red Cross worker John Scott and his partner Greg Scrivener were murdered for similar reasons.
• Police Commissioner Isikia Savua was involved in the 2000 Coup and in rigging the 2001 election by swapping ballot papers. Savua also helped cover up Scott's murder.
  
• Both the 2001 and 2006 Elections were rigged. Police were involved.
  
• Qarase and most of his ministers were very corrupt.
• Australia's Howard government turned a blind eye to what was happening and was behind Qarase's re-election.
• Some people in the SDLparty had plans to stop Bainimarama's return from NZ just before the 2006 coup/military intervention, and to "take him out" if this failed.
  

All or at some of this could, of course, be another con trick, but having read his interview by ABC journalist Monica Attard (click here for a transcript of the full interview) and his own account of his political involvements in Fiji from 2001 to early 2007 (click here), I think those he names have a case to answer. Too many of his accusations tally with the accusations of others and with well known events and actors to be merely figments of a con-man's mind.

For the record, he believes "Frank Bainimarama ... for all the right reasons has removed a very corrupt, very dangerous government. I understand everyone says you cannot remove a democratically elected government through a military coup. Of course I understand that. However, there isn't a thinking man, woman or child in the world today who wouldn't understand if the military regime in Zimbabwe had stood up and got rid of Mugabe. And I'm using the same analogy."

Extract from the Attard Interview

Monica Attard: Don't you think it's a real shame that while you have the ability to use your notoriety to bring attention to Fiji's problems like you are right now, that really at the end of the day, you can't be taken seriously because of your chequered past?

Peter Foster: This is why I said at the time. I worked for Fiji military intelligence and I wore listening devices and I had these tiny little video cameras on me and I videoed three top people who said that the elections were rigged. And when we came out with this, I said "I don't expect anybody for one minute to believe one word Peter Foster says. I'm just a silly bugger who wore the video camera and listening device. Listen to what they say."

* Peter Foster's mother, Louise Foster and her Fiji Trust. have been supporting humanitarian causes in Fiji for over 30 years.

Snippets: Commonwealth Decions; Methodist Rapprochement? President,Fiji Holdings Debt Free

Commonwealth Issues Ultimatum
The CMAG has decided not to fully suspend Fiji, as wanted by NZ, but has voted (all decisions have to be unanimous) to fully suspend Fiji if it does not announce an election date by September 1 for an October 2010 election.

CMAG has also called for the Government to reactivate the President's Dialogue Forum process, facilitated by the Commonwealth and the United Nations.In their statement, they also added that the dialogue must be independent, inclusive, time bound and without any predetermined outcome and should also lead to credible elections in October 2010. Based on Fiji Village.

Comment
The new deadline is technically possible but it leaves the Government too little time to bring about the social, infrastructural, judicial and electoral reforms it seeks before holding elections. In effect, Fiji has been given four weeks to decide. It is doubtful a rushed election will bring any permanent benefits to Fiji, although there is good reason to advance the Dialogue Forum process. I doubt Fiji will comply with the CMAG requirement.

However, a positive gesture from Australia and NZ, that could well help Fiji's internal situation, would be for Australia and NZ to relax their stance on Fiji's exclusion from next week's PACER meeting in Cairns. But this also seems unlikely. They still seem to think, despite all evidence to the contrary, that their stick-and-no-carrot approach will result in early elections.

See earlier (31 July) comments in "PINA To Stay in Fiji; Commonwealth Suspension Not Yet."


(+) Earlier: Commonwealth and McCully's Idea of Balance
NZ Foreign Minister Murray McCully said he will be trying to present a balanced view of the interests of the region at tonight’s Commonwealth Ministerial Action Group meeting on Fiji, noting "there not been positive movement; the abrogation of the Constitution, and suspension of the judiciary was a backward step" Apparently nothing else has happened in Fiji or the region? The Commonwealth usually seeks guidance from the Pacific Islands Forum leadership on Pacific matters. One hopes he'll not forget to mention that seven Pacific Island countries want ongoing dialogue with Fiji, and are clearly uncomfortable with Fiji's suspension from the PI Forum. -- Based on RNZ report.


Methodist Update
The church has cancelled this year's conference but choir competitions and fund raising will go on at divisional levels, and the standing committee will be expanded to deal with business normally conducted at the annual conference. The church also said it would support government's efforts to take the country forward. Ministers on bail (for breaking Government conditions for holding earlier meetings) were not at the meeting.


(o+) Methodist Church: Bainimarama Asks Peacemakers or Voice of Dissent?
Fiji’s Methodist Church and the military council have agreed to continue dialogue after their “positive” meeting on Tuesday. PM Bainimarama said “they have to meet first [and then] we need to work together to move the nation forward. We are indeed in very challenging moments in our history as a young sovereign nation and I beseech the leaders of the Methodist Church to reassess their roles in these trying times."

He asked “Should the church take on the role of peacemakers and the voice of unity for nation building or should they be the voice of dissent?" Government and the security forces believe the Church should refrain from politics. “We all have our individual roles to play - religion to engage in spiritual development and the Government to manage the State’s affairs.” -- Based on Fiji Live.

President Served for Nine Years
Ratu Josefa Iloiolo (88) was appointed in December 2000 by the Great Council of Chiefs and has served since then except for a brief period from December 5, 2006 to January 4, 2007 when Commodore Bainimarama held presidential powers. He is entitled to a full pension for the nine years he served as President. Ratu Josefa went on leave from yesterday and will then retire. More.

Fiji Holdings Ltd
BP has repaid the indigenous business company Fiji Holdings the $25 million deposit on its now abandoned purchase of BP (SW Pacific). This leaves FHL with no debt but questions are still being asked about the management of the company, mainly because details of a recent Government audit have not been made public.

(o) PACER Plus and Its Alternatives: Important Oxfam Report

Barrie Coates of NGO Oxfam NZ (photo) asks for your help on a report to be taken to the Forum meeting in Cairns. The NGO hopes the principles and new approaches outlined in the report will be accepted as a better way to protect Pacific Islands interests than conventional free trade approaches and practice.

Kia Ora colleagues,

Please click here for Oxfam’s new report that outlines the alternative forms of economic cooperation agreement for the upcoming negotiations on the economic relations between New Zealand and Australia and the Pacific Islands. We have prepared it as an input to discussions at the forthcoming Pacific Islands Forum meeting. Any help you can provide to get it into the hands of Pacific Ministers and government officials would be very helpful.

PACER Plus and its Alternatives: Which way for Trade and Development in the Pacific? outlines how trade with our Pacific neighbours is seriously imbalanced in favour of Australia and New Zealand. The report responds to the recommendation from the Forum Trade Ministers’ meeting that negotiations for a new cooperation agreement be launched at this year’s Leaders’ Forum. Oxfam New Zealand and Oxfam Australia have jointly prepared this paper, principally authored by Nick Braxton, in order to contribute to the debate on how such any economic cooperation agreement in the Pacific can fulfil the stated aims of supporting the Pacific’s development.

The report notes that much of the debate around the launch of the negotiations has focused on support or criticism for a ‘standard’ WTO-compatible free trade agreement. The report reveals, however, that there are many options available to negotiators and that it is entirely possible to construct an economic cooperation agreement that would improve the Pacific’s trade prospects while avoiding many of the risks associated with a standard free trade agreement.

Several options, and their pros and cons, are outlined.

Getting the trade rules right, however, is not even half the battle. It is the lack of viable supply that is the main constraint that an economic cooperation agreement must address. Therefore, the report argues, The Pacific has viable opportunities to add value to its natural resources, boost exports and displace imports, but needs support to do so. This needs to be the core of any agreement that has development as a primary aim.

The report then outlines three crucial elements that are required if these negotiations are to deliver on the aim of enhancing the Pacific’s development:

1) Discussions about a new form of developmentally-oriented economic co-operation agreement must be broad in scope, building up from priorities identified by the Pacific countries themselves. Developing the Pacific’s proposals will take time, certainly well beyond the suggested timeframe of agreeing a framework and timetable by end November this year.

2) Negotiations on a broader economic co-operation agreement will need strong cooperation across government departments, and will need the close involvement of other actors in the economy and society more broadly, including parliamentarians, traditional leaders, civil society, the private sector and others. Sufficient time and resources to enable this to take place are crucial.

3) A traditional approach to negotiations led by officials who have been schooled in the language and mindset of adversarial trade negotiations is not likely to lead to an agreement that is in the interests of the region. Serious consideration should be given to assembling the most appropriate range of skills for negotiating teams within all governments, including Australia and New Zealand, ensuring that those with development expertise and mandate are centrally involved.

Oxfam believes that these negotiations are critical for the Pacific Islands Countries, but they will need a radically new approach. Achieving developmentally-sound outcomes will only be possible if there is enough time, sufficient resources, real stakeholder engagement and constructive ways of working. Reverting back to the familiar styles of trade negotiations would doom the negotiations to repeat the patterns of the past.

My colleague, Nick Braxton and I would appreciate any feedback or comment you may have on the report. For those involved in Forum meetings, I will be in Cairns during the Forum Leaders meetings and would be pleased to meet at any stage.

Sincerely,

Barry

Barry Coates, Executive Director, Oxfam New Zealand, Tel: +64 9 355 6506 FAX: +64 9 355 6505. email: barry@oxfam.org.nz web: www.oxfam.org.nz

Photo:Sarah Ivey

Lockington's Everyday Fiji ... Life Goes On

Allen Lockington is a self-employed customs agent and business consultant who has regular articles published in www.connectme.com.fj/news/opinion/. I thank Allen and Connect for permission to reprint some of them in this political blog. They remind us that life goes on, whatever the political situation. And it's good to know that.

Mango Season

It’s July 2009 and once again like every year the mango trees are starting to flower in Lautoka. By August and September we will be enriched with the aroma of ripening mango. Trees will be literally dripping with the fruit. Stalls along roadsides will be set up, people on their way to Suva will stop and buy them. School fees and other expenses will be paid. I will be sending cartons and bags of mangoes to relatives and friends in Suva, freight forward though.

This is the time many people in the West take the mango for granted. I will make mango juice, chutney will be made by my neighbor and we will exchange wares. Mango pickles will be plentiful. The people of Lautoka will be enriched with vitamin C. The mango is an excellent laxative and many stomachs will be cleaned for the duration of the season.

The amount of mango that goes to waste is humongous. I wish we could make mango juice to export. But seeing the many restrictions put in place by Australia and New Zealand, I will just export to Suva.

The mango will be here soon and once again we will be blessed, nature just carries on regardless of the situation.

...Life Goes on will be published every Saturday for the next few weeks...

Scoop: NZ bullying Over Pacific Free Trade Deal - Report

The General Secretary of the Pacific Conference of Churches has released a report documenting the use of ‘power politics’ by the Australian and New Zealand governments to push Pacific island countries to launch free trade negotiations at the Pacific Islands Forum Leaders’ meeting in Cairns next week. To read more, Click Scoop: NZ bullying Over Pacific Free Trade Deal - Report