Pacific Islands Forum

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Pacific Islands Forum (PIF)
Logo of the Pacific Islands Forum
Location of the Pacific Islands Forum
Headquarters Suva, Fiji
Membership 16 member states
2 associate members
2 observers
Establishment
 -  as the South Pacific Forum 1971 
 -  as the PIF 2000 

The Pacific Islands Forum is an inter-governmental organization which aims to enhance cooperation between the independent countries of the Pacific Ocean and represent their interests. It was founded in 1971 as the South Pacific Forum; the name was changed in 2000 to better reflect the correct geographic locations of its member states both in the north and south Pacific.

The Forum's member states are: Australia, the Cook Islands, the Federated States of Micronesia, Fiji, Kiribati, the Marshall Islands, Nauru, New Zealand, Niue, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, the Solomon Islands, Tonga, Tuvalu, and Vanuatu. Since 2006, associate members territories are New Caledonia and French Polynesia.

The decisions of the Forum are implemented by the Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat (PIFS), which grew out of the South Pacific Bureau for Economic Co-operation (SPEC). As well as its role in harmonising regional positions on various political and policy issues, the Forum Secretariat has technical programmes in economic development, transport and trade, and chairs the Council of Regional Organisations in the Pacific (CROP).

New Zealand and Australia are much larger in population (with the exception of Papua New Guinea), and wealthier than the other small, poor, and in some cases outright impoverished island nations that make up the rest of the forum. They are significant aid donors and big markets for exports (for instance, through a concessional tariff deal on textiles exports from Fiji to Australia). Australia's population is around twice that of the other 15 members combined and its economy more than five times larger. In Papua New Guinea (in Bougainville), Solomon Islands (2003-), Nauru (2004-) and Tonga (2006), New Zealand and Australian military and police forces have recently been part of a regional peacekeeping/stabilization operations. Such regional efforts are mandated by the Biketawa Declaration, which was adopted at the 31st Summit of Pacific Islands Forum Leaders, held at Kiribati in October 2000.

Contents

[edit] History

From 5 to 7 August 1971, the first meeting of South Pacific Forum was initiated by New Zealand and held in Wellington, with attendants of seven countries including the President of Nauru, the Prime Ministers of Western Samoa, Tonga and Fiji, the Premier of the Cook Islands, the Australian Minister for External Territories, and the Prime Minister of New Zealand. It was a private and informal discussion of a wide range of issues of common concern, concentrating on matters directly affecting the daily lives of the people of the islands of the South Pacific, devoting particular attention to trade, shipping, tourism, and education. Afterwards this meeting was held annually in member countries and areas in turn. In 1999, the 30th South Pacific Forum decided to transform into Pacific Islands Forum, with relatively more extensive and formal way of discussion and organization. Immediately after the forum’s annual meeting at head of government level, the Post Forum Dialogue (PFD) is conducted at ministerial level with PFD development partners around the world.

[edit] Main policies

The mission of Pacific Islands Forum is “to work in support of Forum member governments, to enhance the economic and social well-being of the people of the South Pacific by fostering cooperation between governments and between international agencies, and by representing the interests of Forum members in ways agreed by the Forum”.

[edit] Membership

Map indicating the members and observers of the Pacific Islands Forum
Member states
Flag of Australia Australia (AU) Flag of Kiribati Kiribati (KI) Flag of Palau Palau (PW) Flag of the Solomon Islands Solomon Islands (SB)
Flag of the Cook Islands Cook Islands (CK) Flag of Nauru Nauru (NR) Flag of Papua New Guinea Papua New Guinea (PG) Flag of Tonga Tonga (TO)
Flag of the Federated States of Micronesia Fed. Sts. of Micronesia (FM) Flag of New Zealand New Zealand (NZ) Flag of the Marshall Islands Marshall Islands (MH) Flag of Tuvalu Tuvalu (TV)
Flag of Fiji Fiji (FJ) Flag of Niue Niue (NU) Flag of Samoa Samoa (WS) Flag of Vanuatu Vanuatu (VU)
Associate members Observers
Flag of New Caledonia New Caledonia (NC) Flag of French Polynesia French Polynesia (PF) Flag of Tokelau Tokelau (TK) Flag of East Timor Timor-Leste (TL)
For abbreviations, see ISO 3166-1.

The Forum is in dialogue with thirteen partners: Canada, China, European Union, France, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Philippines, the United Kingdom, and the United States.

[edit] Secretaries-General [1]

  • Feleti Teo (Tuvalu) (acting). New SG to be decided by the Pacific Islands Forum in Niue in August 2008.
  • Greg Urwin (Australia) 2004-May 2008 (resigned due to ill health)
  • Noel Levi (Papua New Guinea) 1998-2004
  • Ieremaia Tabai GCMG (Kiribati) 1992-1998
  • Henry Naisali (Tuvalu) 1988-1992

Directors of the South Pacific Bureau for Economic Cooperation

  • Henry Naisali (Tuvalu) 1986-1988
  • Mahe Tupouniua (Tonga) 1983-1986
  • John Sheppard (Australia) (acting) 1982-Jan 1983
  • Gabriel Gris (Papua New Guinea) 1980-1982 (died in office)
  • Mahe Tupouniua (Tonga) Nov 1972-1980

[edit] Institutions and legal framework

The Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat was established initially as a ‘Trade Bureau’ in 1972 and later became the South Pacific Bureau for Economic Co-operation (SPEC). The name South Pacific Forum Secretariat was approved by member governments in 1988 and changed to Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat in 2000.

There are four divisions in the Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat, and each of these divisions has direct responsibility for a range of programs designed to improve the capacity of the Forum member countries and to co-ordinate action on matters of common interest:

  1. Development and Economic Policy
  2. Trade and Investment
  3. Political, International and Legal Affairs
  4. Corporate Services

[edit] Pacific Islands Countries Trade Agreement

The aim of Pacific Island Countries Trade Agreement (PICTA) is to boost trade between the island nations of the Pacific.

The Melanesian Spearhead Group Preferential Trade Agreement is a similar cooperation attempt by a subset of the PICTA members.

[edit] Recent works

An "open skies" policy has been under work by a number of nations. The Pacific Islands Air Services Agreement or PIASA would allow member nations to have more access for their airlines to other member countries. To date there have been 10 signatories Cook Islands, Kiribati, Nauru, Niue, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Tuvalu and Vanuatu while only 6 have ratified the agreement. These six are Cook Islands, Nauru, Niue, Samoa, Tonga and Vanuatu.

[edit] Common currency

There have been calls to create a common currency in the Pacific. The Australian government contends[citation needed] that the Australian dollar should be used by the island nations but many people worry that this would lead to a new age of colonialism. Some[who?] feel that the common currency should be different from that of Australia, New Zealand, and the United States. Some countries in the Pacific already use the currency of one of the nations listed above. Guam, Northern Mariana Islands, American Samoa, Palau, Federated States of Micronesia, and Marshall Islands are currently using the United States Dollar. Nauru, Kiribati, and Tuvalu are using the Australian Dollar. Tokelau, Cook Islands, Niue, and the Pitcairn Islands use the New Zealand Dollar. There is also a strong European influence in the Pacific. The French territories of New Caledonia, Wallis and Futuna, and French Polynesia have been using the CFP Franc.

[edit] Future prospects

There has been a call from within both the Australian and New Zealand business communities to extend the CER (Closer Economic Relations) to other Pacific Island nations, moving towards a single market and allowing the free movement of people and goods. See Pacific Union.

[edit] Comparison with other regional blocs

Most active regional blocs
(as of 2004, except as noted)
Regional bloc1 Area Population GDP ($US) Member
states1
km² sq mi in millions (PPP) in millions (nominal) per capita (PPP) per capita (nominal)
AU 29,797,500 11,504,879 897,548,804 1,515,000 1,131,850 1,896 1,261 53
ASEAN (2007 est.) 4,497,493 1,736,000 566,500,000 3,115,480 1,173,000 5,541 2,041 10
CACM 422,614 163,172 37,816,598 159,536 84,792 4,219 2,242 5
CARICOM 462,344 178,512 14,565,083 64,219 24,020 4,409 1,649 (14+1)3
CCASG / GCC 2,285,844 882,569 35,869,438 536,223 717,800 14,949 20,011 6
CEFTA 298,148 115,116 28,929,682 222,041 122,001 7,675 4,217 (7+1)3
EU (2007 est.) 4,324,782 1,669,808 497,000,000 14,953,000 16,574,000 28,213 33,482 27
EurAsEC 20,789,100 8,026,720 208,067,618 1,689,137 1,125,528 8,118 5,409 6
EFTA (2007 est.) 529,600 204,480 12,660,623 567,500 743,300 44,828 60,000 4
GAFTA 9,421,946 3,637,834 280,727,416 1,341,298 N/A 4,778 N/A (16+1)3
GUAM 810,506 312,938 63,764,600 456,173 106,469 7,154 1,670 4
NAFTA (2007 est.) 21,783,850 8,410,792 445,000,000 15,857,000 15,723,000 35,491 35,564 3
PARTA 528,151 203,920 7,810,905 23,074 N/A 2,954 N/A (12+2)3
SAARC 5,136,740 1,983,306 1,467,255,669 4,074,031 N/A 2,777 N/A 8
Unasur / Unasul 17,339,153 6,694,684 370,158,470 2,868,430 N/A 7,749 N/A 12
UN and countries
for reference2		 Area Population GDP ($US) Units4
km² sq mi in millions (PPP) in millions (nominal) per capita (PPP) per capita (nominal)
UN 133,178,011 51,420,318 6,411,682,270 55,167,630 48,245,198 8,604 7,524 192
Brazil (2007 est.) 8,514,877 3,287,612 183,888,841 1,804,000 1,067,706 10,073 6,842 27
Canada (2007 est.) 9,984,670 3,855,103 33,000,000 1,274,000 1,406,000 38,200 42,738 13
India (2007 est.) 3,287,590 1,269,346 1,120,000,000 4,726,000 1,089,000 4,182 1,004 35
Japan (2007 est.) 377,873 145,898 127,433,494 4,346,000 4,346,000 33,800 38,341 47
PR China5 (2007 est.) 9,596,960 3,705,407 1,321,851,888 7,043,000 3,420,000 5,300 2,800 33
Russia (2007 est.) 17,075,200 6,592,772 142,500,000 2,076,000 1,286,000 14,600 9,056 83
USA (2007 est.) 9,826,630 3,794,083 302,000,000 13,543,000 13,794,700 43,500 45,594 50
Source: CIA World Factbook 2005, IMF WEO Database, IMF nominal figures for 2006.[citation needed]
Legend
     smallest value among the blocs compared     largest value among the blocs compared

Footnotes
1 Including data only for full and most active members.
2 Including the largest five countries by area, population (not #4), GDP (PPP) (not #5), and GDP (nominal) (not #3 or #5).
3 Including non-sovereign autonomous areas of other states.
4 Members or administrative divisions.
5 Data for the People's Republic of China does not include Hong Kong, Macau, or the independent Republic of China (Taiwan) (over which PRC claims sovereignty).

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[edit] See also

[edit] External links


v • d • e
Pacific Islands Forum (PIF)
Members Logo of the Pacific Islands Forum
Associate members
Observers