Pacific_regional_trade_agreement

Pacific Islands Forum (PIF)
Headquarters		Suva, Fiji
Membership		16 member states 2 associate members 2 observers
Establishment
-	as the South Pacific Forum	1971
-	as the PIF	2000

The Pacific Islands Forum is an inter-governmental organization which aims to enhance cooperation between the independent countries of the Pacific Ocean and represent their interests. It was founded in 1971 as the South Pacific Forum; the name was changed in 2000 to better reflect the correct geographic locations of its member states both in the north and south Pacific.

The Forum\'s member states are: Australia, the Cook Islands, the Federated States of Micronesia, Fiji, Kiribati, the Marshall Islands, Nauru, New Zealand, Niue, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, the Solomon Islands, Tonga, Tuvalu, and Vanuatu. Since 2006, associate members territories are New Caledonia and French Polynesia.

The decisions of the Forum are implemented by the Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat (PIFS), which grew out of the South Pacific Bureau for Economic Co-operation (SPEC). As well as its role in harmonising regional positions on various political and policy issues, the Forum Secretariat has technical programmes in economic development, transport and trade, and chairs the Council of Regional Organisations in the Pacific (CROP).

New Zealand and Australia are much larger in population (with the exception of Papua New Guinea), and wealthier than the other small, poor, and in some cases outright impoverished island nations that make up the rest of the forum. They are significant aid donors and big markets for exports (for instance, through a concessional tariff deal on textiles exports from Fiji to Australia). Australia\'s population is around twice that of the other 15 members combined and its economy more than five times larger. In Papua New Guinea (in Bougainville), Solomon Islands (2003-), Nauru (2004-) and Tonga (2006), New Zealand and Australian military and police forces have recently been part of a regional peacekeeping/stabilization operations. Such regional efforts are mandated by the Biketawa Declaration, which was adopted at the 31st Summit of Pacific Islands Forum Leaders, held at Kiribati in October 2000.

History

From 5 to 7 August 1971, the first meeting of South Pacific Forum was initiated by New Zealand and held in Wellington, with attendants of seven countries including the President of Nauru, the Prime Ministers of Western Samoa, Tonga and Fiji, the Premier of the Cook Islands, the Australian Minister for External Territories, and the Prime Minister of New Zealand. It was a private and informal discussion of a wide range of issues of common concern, concentrating on matters directly affecting the daily lives of the people of the islands of the South Pacific, devoting particular attention to trade, shipping, tourism, and education. Afterwards this meeting was held annually in member countries and areas in turn. In 1999, the 30th South Pacific Forum decided to transform into Pacific Islands Forum, with relatively more extensive and formal way of discussion and organization. Immediately after the forum’s annual meeting at head of government level, the Post Forum Dialogue (PFD) is conducted at ministerial level with PFD development partners around the world.

Main policies

The mission of Pacific Islands Forum is “to work in support of Forum member governments, to enhance the economic and social well-being of the people of the South Pacific by fostering cooperation between governments and between international agencies, and by representing the interests of Forum members in ways agreed by the Forum”.

Membership

Member states
Australia (AU)	Kiribati (KI)	Palau (PW)	Solomon Islands (SB)
Cook Islands (CK)	Nauru (NR)	Papua New Guinea (PG)	Tonga (TO)
Fed. Sts. of Micronesia (FM)	New Zealand (NZ)	Marshall Islands (MH)	Tuvalu (TV)
Fiji (FJ)	Niue (NU)	Samoa (WS)	Vanuatu (VU)
Associate members		Observers
New Caledonia (NC)	French Polynesia (PF)	Tokelau (TK)	Timor-Leste (TL)
For abbreviations, see ISO 3166-1.

The Forum is in dialogue with thirteen partners: Canada, China, European Union, France, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Philippines, the United Kingdom, and the United States.

Institutions and legal framework

The Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat was established initially as a ‘Trade Bureau’ in 1972 and later became the South Pacific Bureau for Economic Co-operation (SPEC). The name South Pacific Forum Secretariat was approved by member governments in 1988 and changed to Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat in 2000.

There are four divisions in the Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat, and each of these divisions has direct responsibility for a range of programs designed to improve the capacity of the Forum member countries and to co-ordinate action on matters of common interest:

1. Development and Economic Policy
2. Trade and Investment
3. Political, International and Legal Affairs
4. Corporate Services

Pacific Regional Trade Agreement

The aim of Pacific Regional Trade Agreement (PARTA) is to boost trade between the island nations of the Pacific. Australia and New Zealand are associate members of PARTA.

The Melanesian Spearhead Group Preferential Trade Agreement is a similar cooperation attempt by a subset of the PARTA members.

Recent Works

An "open skies" policy has been under work by a number of nations. The Pacific Islands Air Services Agreement or PIASA would allow member nations to have more access for their airlines to other member countries. To date there have been 10 signatories Cook Islands, Kiribati, Nauru, Niue, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Tuvalu and Vanuatu while only 6 have ratified the agreement. These six are Cook Islands, Nauru, Niue, Samoa, Tonga and Vanuatu.

Common Currency

There have been calls to create a common currency in the Pacific. The Australian government contends that the Australian dollar should be used by the island nations but many people worry that this would lead to a new age of colonialism. Some feel that the common currency should be different from that of Australia, New Zealand, and the United States. Some countries in the Pacific already use the currency of one of the nations listed above. Guam, Northern Mariana Islands, American Samoa, Palau, Federated States of Micronesia, and Marshall Islands are currently using the United States Dollar. Nauru, Kiribati, and Tuvalu are using the Australian Dollar. Tokelau, Cook Islands, Niue, and the Pitcairn Islands use the New Zealand Dollar. There is also a strong European influence in the Pacific. The French territories of New Caledonia, Wallis and Futuna, and French Polynesia have been using the CFP Franc.

Future Prospects

There has been a call from within both the Australian and New Zealand business communities to extend the CER (Closer Economic Relations) to other Pacific Island nations, moving towards a single market and allowing the free movement of people and goods. See Pacific Union.

Comparison with other regional blocs

See also

• Secretariat of the Pacific Community
• Trade bloc
• Pacific Union
• Melanesian Spearhead Group

External links

• Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat

v • d • e Pacific Islands Forum (PIF)
Members	Australia · Cook Islands · Fiji · Kiribati · Marshall Islands · Micronesia · Nauru · New Zealand · Niue · Palau · Papua New Guinea · Samoa · Solomon Islands · Tonga · Tuvalu · Vanuatu
Associate members	French Polynesia · New Caledonia
Observers	Tokelau · East Timor

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