http://www.islandsbusiness.com/islands_business/...ueArticle-full.tpl
Beginning of a Pan Pacific Economic Union?
Alfred Sasako
Solomon Islands and its near neighbour, Papua New Guinea, plan to hold a joint Cabinet meeting on Bougainville in December, the first for any two nations in the region to do so.
No date has been set for the meeting. But in the meantime, preparatory work is already underway, including the upgrading of the Aropa Airstrip on Bougainville.
Prime Minister O’Neill told his Solomon Islands counterpart, Prime Minister Danny Philip during a recent visit to PNG that the idea of a cabinet meeting on Bougainville was to show support for what the authorities on the island are doing.
“My cabinet will join you,” was the prompt response from Prime Minister Philip
Apart from the meeting, PNG has begun pouring money into Bougainville, to ensure the past is not repeated.
Waigani has allocated K500 million for the economic development of Bougainville over the next five years.
The new K100 million a year funding arrangement, founded on PNG’s new-found mineral resources boom, starts this year.
In their discussions, both leaders acknowledged the importance of socio-economic development on Bougainville and that joint support across the Solomon Sea is just as vital.
They believe the presence of government ministers from both Solomon Islands and PNG on Bougainville would bolster confidence of the people and leadership on the island.
While things have quietened down, security concerns on Bougainville’s sea border with Solomon Islands remains.
These concerns are real, given what had happened during the Bougainville crisis in the mid-80s.
There were border clashes between the Solomon Islands’ field force and the PNG Defence Force pursuing Bougainvillean militants. Several civilians died in these raids.
As well, there had been allegations of gun-smuggling into Bougainville from the Solomon Islands’ side.
Both leaders are hopeful the joint meeting would pave the way for greater cooperation with authorities on Bougainville, particularly in addressing the security concerns.
The move by the two largest members of the MSG sub-grouping has other important implications as well.
For example, it could be seen as the cradle for the birth of the privately-talked about Pan Pacific Economic Union (PPEU), a concept very close to the heart of Solomon Islands’ Prime Minister, Philip, even before his election to the top post in August 2010.
Philip told friends that unless and until Pacific Islands countries are “economically independent”, living standards in the islands will never improve. “In fact, it will only get worse,” he said.
He sees the Pan Pacific Economic Union (PPEU) as the only way out.
In a speech in Port Moresby during his recent visit, he departed from a prepared text and suggested that PNG’s newly acquired powerhouse status should be exploited for Melanesian gain.
“I can say that without Papua New Guinea, there is no Melanesia. PNG is Melanesia,” he said.
Philip’s statement is based on the fact that PNG has become a donor of sorts since 1997, when under the leadership of the late Bill Skate, it signed a K40 million budget support assistance package to help Solomon Islands.
The support, heavily criticised by Australia at the time, was in recognition of the help Honiara provided to Bougainvilleans fleeing the island during the Bougainville crisis.
Part of the money was subsequently used to pay for Solomon Islands students studying in tertiary institutions in PNG up to the end of this year.
PNG used the balance to build the Solomon Islands first ever owned Chancery in Port Moresby.
During Philip’s recent visit, PNG agreed to continue the budget support assistance by announcing a K20 million a year (about SBD60 million) over the next five years. The new aid arrangement, which starts next year, will cover education as well as funding economic growth centres (EGCs) across Solomon Islands.
Preliminary work has begun on these EGCs on Malaita. More will be established in other provinces from next year.
Both Prime Ministers also spoke of the growing economic ties between their two countries, urging officials to facilitate processes for encouraging investments.
PNG, for example, has invested hundreds of millions of dollars in different sectors in Solomon Islands, including the hotel industry as well as the palm oil industry.
The Heritage Park Hotel— the premiere hotel in Honiara—is an investment from PNG.
Prime Minister O’Neill appealed to his counterpart to encourage Solomon Islands companies to invest in PNG. He believes the economic boom being experienced in PNG should be shared with other Melanesian countries.
Philip later visited the US$18 billion LNG Project refinery site outside Port Moresby. There, he was told the refinery is due to open in February 2014.
At the peak of the construction phase, the project will employ some 10,500 skilled and semi-skilled workers, a commodity PNG does not have.
PNG is short of manpower resources and will certainly be looking to other Melanesian neighbours to help fill the shortage.
With a joint cabinet meeting being held there, could Bougainville, once the headache for Solomon Islands and PNG, provide the birthplace for a Pan Pacific Economic Union (PPEU)—a concept that will revolutionise the region’s political and economic makeup?
If the PPEU concept is developed further under the wings of the five-member Melanesian Spearhead Group (MSG), the sub-regional grouping of PNG, Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, Fiji and New Caledonia, it could have serious implications for the Pacific Islands Forum.
Increasingly, leaders feel the Pacific Islands Forum is gradually losing its grip on issues critical to the well-being of Pacific Islands nations.
The birth of PPEU could very well be the death-bed for PIF. Only time will tell.
-----------
BOC - Mein MULTIBAGGER Favorit |
Thread abonnieren
