Aid and development groups against 'Pacific Plan'

PORT MORESBY - Aid and development groups in the Pacific have panned a draft regional agreement, the Pacific Plan, that Prime Minister Helen Clark is hoping leaders will sign up to.

New Zealand and Australia are encouraging leaders to endorse the plan at the Pacific Forum which starts today in Papua New Guinea and Miss Clark pushed that agenda during bilateral talks here yesterday.

However a large group of Pacific non-governmental organisations, trade unions, women and youth groups yesterday were to declare they wanted trade negotiations frozen and postponement of the plan until further work was done.

Oxfam NZ executive director Barry Coates was to tell a meeting of civil society organisations that the plan would do more harm than good.

It was expected the group would issue a joint communique calling for the freeze on trade liberalisation negotiations and putting off agreeing to the plan.

Mr Coates said there was a huge amount of concern about economic aspects of the plan. "Particularly the plan has a heavy emphasis on trade liberalisation as a means to economic growth," he said.

The plan includes 22 initiatives for implementation from 2006-08, many on trade liberalisation lines, and non governmental organisations have expressed concern at the pace of change.

Mr Coates said the plan included existing negotiations but anticipated new agreements.

NGOs were concerned that rapid liberalisation would have severe effects on small and vulnerable countries.

The Pacific faced "huge problems" of inadequate infrastructure, high transport costs and poor frequency of transport that made trade difficult.

"These conditions make it unlikely these countries are are going to benefit from trade liberalisation," he said. The communique will call for a research to done on trade liberalisation's affects followed by more consultation.

"We're saying the whole Pacific Plan needs more time for serious discussion and further work," Mr Coates said.

Miss Clark told reporters there had been enough consultation.

"This has been two years in the development, there's been consultation from the outset and there are some very good initiatives to roll forward," she said.

"As we look at each one the new ideas to be worked up there will be more consultation but you can consult to the point where you never get anything done if you don't decide it's time to act."

She emphasised that agreement to the plan did not mean partners had to sign up to everything.

"People have to look at what is in their own national strategy developments and how that matches with these priorities," she said.

"But I believe the work that is being done to build a region-wide consensus about what the priorities are will in turn then influence national plans and give people guidance on how to take that development further."

Miss Clark said some groups were always going to oppose trade but said a freeze on the Pacific Agreement on Closer Economic Relations (Pacer) would be serious.

"The Pacer agreement is important to New Zealand because it is triggered at the point when the European Union starts seriously discussing trade agreements with the Pacific."

The European Union, which provides significant local aid, is signing Pacific countries up to a regional agreement with a deadline of December 2007.

"It would be a travesty if the country with a long history of relations with Pacific nations which New Zealand has were to end up on a worse footing vis-a-vis the Pacific nations and trade than Europe which is a very very long way away," Miss Clark said.

"Pacer has to be seen as a cornerstone in the way we move ahead in the Pacific."

She said it would be "unacceptable" for Europe to be on a better trade footing than New Zealand.

Miss Clark said discussions with Sir Michael Somare today were amicable.

"Our relationship has been positive for 30 years and New Zealand is regarded as a good friend to Papua New Guinea."

His relationship with Australia is not so good and Sir Michael has been strongly critical of larger countries' great influence in the region.

The Pacific Forum begins today and the Pacific Plan - which aims are to enhance and stimulate economic growth, sustainable development, good governance and security for Pacific countries through regionalism - will be a key topic.

The draft, completed last December, has been widely consulted among the 16 member nations: Australia, Cook Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, Fiji, Kiribati, Marshall Islands, Nauru, New Zealand, Niue, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Tuvalu and Vanuatu.

Other topics will be preparing for avian flu and seeking ongoing support for law and order in the Solomon Islands.

- NZPA