Page 5 - IB AUG 2017

The Region
Melanesian challenge

Diplomat calls for offices and I cannot agree more on the
need for the SPC sub-regional offices to be
greater sub-regionalism working with the likes of the sub regional
bodies like the Melanesian Spearhead
Group to ensure that our people obtain the
A SENIOR regional diplomat has called
for more cooperation at sub-regional level benefits of such a partnership.
to create more efficient service delivery by Regional co-operation ... Amena Yauvoli “Our willingness to further develop this
regional organisations. the recognition that our issue will need partnership is to look at how we can also
Melanesian Spearhead Group Director- a global solution and the onus is on our- work with SPREP, whose offices are also
at the Secretariat. We would encourage
General, Ambassador Amenatave Yauvoli, selves to ensure that we do engage where the CROP agencies to think sub-regionally
said it was important for the Pacific to our priorities are and engage with them and come and work with us at this level.
maximise the limited resources made strategically.” Amongst the many arguments that we can
available by donors. Yauvoli then moved to the issue of
Speaking at Pacific Community head- working in a cost-heavy region in which make about sub-regionalism we can state
that our proximity to the communities
quarters in Noumea, New Caledonia, countries were separated by thousands cannot be denied nor ignored.”
Yauvoli called on regional leaders and of kilometres of ocean and travel was One issue Yauvoli did not raise was the
agencies to deal with issues closer to the inhibited by high air fares. sharing of human resources.
ground – at sub-regional level. “We (the MSG) uses very few resources
The Fiji-born diplomat is also being
“I note that you have indicated an ever in a resource-constrained environment – used by his country on an as-needed basis
increasing demand on our limited hu- we share office space to help host countries of birth and the region in preparations for
man and technical resources to follow the with their obligations,” Yauvoli said. COP23.
increasingly complex debate on climate “Where we can we combine country
change and I can sympathize with those level missions and support each other’s It is perhaps the most practical example
concerns,” Yauvoli said. work plans. of cross-regional human resource sharing
in the Pacific.
“If there is one positive element that “You had raised a number of relevant n Invictus News and Features Service
we can draw from this observation is observations regarding SPC’s sub-regional

Islands Business, August 2017 5