Oceania Flash: 18 July 2002
ECONOMICS: SOUTH PACIFIC NATIONS AT THE CROSSROADS
Pacific nations along with their African and Caribbean partners explore ways of setting up a new kind of economic partnership with its major partner and benefactor, the European Union.
By PATRICK DECLOITRE in Nadi
SUVA, July 18 (Oceania Flash) : The 78 members of the Africa, Caribbean, Pacific (ACP) group of countries stand at the crossroads as their third summit in Nadi (Fiji) was poised to explore ways of setting up a new kind of economic partnership with its major partner and benefactor, the European Union.
The new relationship, which is to shape the future of the ACP members, was stressed on Thursday by Europe's Trade Commmissioner Pascal Lamy, at the summit's opening speeches.Speaking in French on behalf of European Commission President Romano Prodi, Lamy recalled the new ACP-EU partnerhship was all about conforming to the new guidelines as set out in the COtonou agreement.
The pact (which was initially to have been called "Suva agreement") was signed by ACP countries in June, 2000, in Cotonou (Bénin, Africa), after planned host, Fiji, had to call off the meeting to to political unrest after a Parliament takeover the previous month.
The trade side of Cotonou (which is worth around 30 billion US dollars) is to become effective in 2008.
Pictured: East Timor President Xanana Gusmao at the Nadi conference. Photo: Pacnews.
Meanwhile, as soon as September this year, ACP countries are to start negociating the terms of what will be the new modus operandi of their trade relations with EU.
The Cotonou agreement "provides EU and ACP with a unique framework which combines ongoing political dialogue, economic and commercial cooperation and development aid"
"A new era"
"This agreement marks a new era ... They are not conventional trade agreements, they are development agreements aimedat achieving Cotonou's objectives, which are poverty alleviation and kick-start a sustainable development process", the French Commissioner said.
This, he said, could in turn develop what he called "development engines".
"This is what we wish through this agreement: first to consolidate a generous and stable access (for ACP) to European markets, second to set good bilateral rules in the negotiating process so as to allow ACP countries to better defend their interests. Finally, to better integrate your respective markets".
"Regional integration is the path you have chosen, ... We at the European Commission, have always supported those intitiatives and today, they need to take a fresh start", he said.
"Regional economic integration is a fundamental component of national development strategies, because it allows, in turn, more agressive, more harmonious more progressive penetration of the world economy... All this, of course, provided we stay together as a family", Lamy said.
Six new Pacific ACP members states
ACP Secretary General Jean-Robert Goulongana, also welcomed the recent arrival of seven new ACP members, including six from the Pacfic islands : Marshall Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, Nauru, Niue, Palau, Tuvalu and, outside the region, Cuba.
Goulongana also mentioned freshly-independent East Timor had now been granted observer status at the Fiji summit, and its acceptation process as a full member was "currently underway".
But Goulongana also stressed that, in his view, the ACP group was standing "at the crossroads", because it was now confronted with new challenges imposed by globalisation.
"The Nadi summit, which bears the theme 'ACP Solidarity in a globalised world', is for sure timely".
Slow Cotonou ratification process in Europe
But the African official also took the opportunity to regret that while a sufficient number of ACP member states had already ratified the Cotonou agreement to allow it to come into force, the European side had not yet reached the quota, thus rendering the pact ineffective for the time being.
While streesing the "urgency" of speeding up the ratification process, Goulongana also encouraged ACP leaders to ponder on the group's future.
"Should it remain a mere lobby group with the EU, or should it become a real, fully-fledged international organisation, with the capacity to position ourselves on the new international stage?"
In the near future, he said, one of the main challenges will be to reconcile "common interests and national specificities".
"And this can not happen without a real political will".
The ACP drumbeat won't be silenced
Incoming ACP President and summit host, Fiji Prime minister Laisenia Qarase, also advocated ACP's common interests, referring to the group's "concern for planet Earth".
"It is a time of crisis, of great tension and threats, of suffering and of fear. Our people carry a large part of the earth's burdens. We have come together in Fiji for their sake and for the sake of the world. ...We seek an end to war, to poverty and disease. ...We would like the riches of the world to be spread with fairness, so that the dangerous gulf between the North and South is removed and the family of humankind becomes closer. We wish to protect this Earth and its natural resources from wanton depredation and destruction, threatening the very environment, which supports us", he said, referring to the ACP countries' common "drumbeat".
"Can you hear the drums? Do you hear the drumbeat from the mountains and plains of Africa, from the shining sands of the Caribbean, and our islands and atolls of the Pacific? It is sending out a message to the world. ... The drumbeat is insistent and it will not be silenced. It has called us to this Third Summit of the ACP".
Outrage at nuclear shipment through the Pacific
The Fijian leader also turned environmentalist and strongly condemned shipment of nuclear waste material MOX currently crossing the Pacific Ocean.
"We are so adamantly opposed to any actions, which expose it to threats of pollution, hazardous waste and the destructive effects of nuclear, and missile tests. Rising sea levels from global warming are also a grave danger to the Pacific Islands, especially the low-lying atolls. It is quite conceivable that environmental refugees from Oceania will in future be seeking sanctuary elsewhere. As I speak, a ship carrying plutonium is heading for our waters, having traversed other parts of the region. We will be asking you to join with us in expressing our outrage and opposition to those who are so willing to put the Pacific and our peoples at risk."
Qarase also acknowledged that ACP's economies, being from the developing world, had "yet to become strong. This is our weakness. Our strength comes from unity, from the combined vision of 78 nations, speaking with one voice. It is hard to ignore a voice like that."
Another criticism came for the United States and its "response to the special ACP Protocol on bananas" which, Qarae said, showed "America had no hesitation in acting against our ACP banana producers when US companies protested about the Protocol."
He cautioned ACP leaders of the hidden dangers of the notion of free trade and open market, a "steep and slippery slope" for those poorer states.
"We accept free trade as the ideal, but there is no level playing field for the ACP. This is why we must move carefully into an integrated system of world trade. It is a matter of saving some of our industries from decimation and protecting employment.
The ACP summit was to adopt a final set of resolutions on Friday.
Patrick Decloitre is special correspondent for the Pacific Community (SPC) Oceania Flash news service.
Copyright © 2002 David Robie and Asia-Pacific Network. This document is for educational and research use. Please seek permission for publication.
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