Page 23 - IB FEB 2019

Trade

Our collective experience from economic in-
tegration will place us in good stead in regional
integration on basis of other non-trade issues,
such as climate change and even on a resur-
gence of the long-standing problem of capacity
building. The latter remains a risk for many FICs
- especially the Smaller Islands States, despite
regional and national efforts to date.
Climate change of course seems to be a major
plank, if not the central one, of the Blue Pacific
narrative. PIF’s global leadership here is critical.
It is also obligatory on the part of the Forum,
given the centrality of the Pacific Ocean in the
global scheme of climate change. The key and
the challenge really is to identify specific issues
that can be regionalised - through cooperation,
integration, and other means of regionalism,
and for which benefit will accrue collectively.
Climate change is one global concern that offers
various options and will not disappoint. The
Blue Pacific narrative, reaffirmed by Dame Meg,
is ‘the core driver of collective regional action
in the Pacific.’
The framework for regional integration is
firmly established. PIF will need to mobilise all
its stakeholders to reach the finishing line with
perseverance and determination.

• The author is a former Fijian ambas-
Honiara market...”Any shade of colour other than green will eventually tarnish the land that feeds us and will sador and Foreign Minister and runs his own
muddy the blueness of our ocean,” the author argues. Photo: islands Business consultancy company in Suva, Fiji.

Islands Business, February 2019 23