Page 30 - Islands Business January 2021

Opinion

logical Mat’(REM) by the Pacific Theological College’s Institute This same arrangement can also be extended to any other
for Mission and Research. The REM advocates are recommend- global powers that wish to formalise their partnership with
ing USoP for consideration in the formulation of the 2050 the PICs.
Strategy by the relevant Forum Officials committee. To date, as we have seen, Pacific regionalism in all its
The USoP proposal will obviously account for the engage- various forms of ‘political significance’ has not necessitated
ment of PICs in Pacific regionalism. But how will member derogation of power and sovereignty from the states to the
states: Australia and New Zealand (ANZ) be accounted for? I region. Going forward, however, and should the reconfigured
discussed this specific matter in the June 2019 issue of Islands Pacific regionalism come to fruition, it remains to be seen
Business, and I have written a paper on it: ‘Towards a New Re- whether the status quo over four to five decades of regional-
gional Diplomacy Architecture’, published in ‘The New Pacific ism will continue.
Diplomacy’, 2015, edited by Greg Fry and Sandra Tarte.
The new diplomatic architecture I suggested requires an editor@islandsbusiness.com
overarching agreement to link the PICs’ own forum, on one
hand, to that of ANZ, on the other. This echoes the same kind The author is a former Fijian Ambassador and Foreign Minis-
of arrangement that PICs (as members of the African, Carib- ter and runs his own consultancy company in Suva, Fiji.
bean and Pacific (ACP) group) have with the European Union.

PNG

Continued from page 28: Remembering Mekere What if we all look at Mekere’s life and the things that he
built and which worked well for a while; and resolved to do as
to do it and to show others what is possible. much as our slim talents might allow?
We can look at the life and death of Mekere and fear for his What if we all care half as much as Mekere did, and use our
country’s prospects. He wanted so much an effective Papua own small talents to rebuild a coconut trunk stump, or Kwila
New Guinean democracy, with broadly based prosperity. He window sill, or taun upright, or sago palm corner of a roof?
worked so hard for so long to make it happen. All of his good- What if we decide as Mekere would have done, and refuse
ness, his greatness, his wisdom, his strategic purpose, his to give up just because things seem so difficult now?
strength of will, his generosity, and his patriotism. His work is That is how I think of Mekere’s life, and now his death.
done and Papua New Guinea is not doing as well as he would
want. This is an extract from the eulogy delivered by Ross
If Mekere could not make it work, who could? Garnaut at the funeral of Sir Mekere Morauta at St Mary’s
What hope for his country? Church, Kangaroo Point, Brisbane, on 23 December 2020. It
But there is a better way to see what he has left. first appeared on the DevPolicy blog www.devpolicy.org
One man, with some friends and often alone, achieved so
much. What could be made if many took up his vision and his editor@islandsbusiness.com
work? If many people worked together and helped?

Trade

Continued from page 27: The unfinished business of Pacer Then there is the uncomfortable “elephant in the room” for
Plus all FICs: given that a fully operational PICTA was intended to
create unity for international trade negotiations, why did the
region that is more stable, prosperous and secure – for all of smaller FICs sign PACER Plus without the participation of PNG
us.” A reiteration of Australian PM Morrison’s vuvale. Unfor- and Fiji, the two largest FICs with more than 80% of the trade
tunately, PACER Plus does little to advance this cause beyond with Australia?
the rhetoric. This clear disunity among the FICs does not reflect well on
All indications are that despite the use of limited numbers the signatories. Neither does it reflect well on the Forum Sec-
of Pacific Island labour for the current Australian harvest, retariat or the Office of the Chief Trade Advisor, which were
much will still remain unharvested despite thousands more supposed to guide FICs in the PACER Plus negotiations.
Pacific Islanders being available. This should surely highlight Sadly, this is not the only example of FIC disunity, with an-
for Australia the inadequacy of the labour mobility provisions other tragic one being the lukewarm support of West Papuan
in PACER Plus. independence.
The current deepening political crisis between Australia and More than ever, there is need for leadership at Forum Secre-
China suggests that the latter will try even more to counter tariat to be more committed to FIC interests.
Australian influence in the Pacific, with political instability in
Melanesian countries providing ample fodder. editor@islandsbusiness.com

30 Islands Business, January 2021