Brussels, 30/05/2006 (Agence Europe) - In Brussels on Tuesday, the European Commission adopted a proposal to deepen the EU's relations with the Pacific Islands, in particular the 15 Pacific ACP countries, the Cook Islands, Fiji Islands, Kiribati, Marshall Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, Nauru, Niue, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Solomon Islands, East Timor, Tonga, Tuvalu and Vanuatu. The strategy was unveiled at the same time as ministers of the 79 ACP (African, Caribbean and Pacific) countries were meeting in Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea. The ACP and EU politicians may decide to put the EU's new strategy on the agenda of the joint ACP-EU Council starting on 1 June in the capital of Papua New Guinea. The strategy makes three main proposals: Building stronger political relations on interests of common concern such as global political security, trade, economic and social development and the environment; Focusing development cooperation on areas where the Pacific has important needs and where the EU has a comparative advantage and a good track record, such as the sustainable management of natural resources, regional cooperation and good governance (for example, addressing the root causes of instability in the region, reducing corruption); and Increasing the efficiency of aid delivery including using more direct budgetary aid and working more closely with other partners, in particular Australia and New Zealand, two key players in the region with which the EU had excellent relations in a wide range of areas (like cooperation on foreign policy issues, trade, security, the environment and education).
The priorities for intervention in the partnership between the EU and the Pacific Islands are based on the fact that most of the Pacific islands are small, remote, and vulnerable to natural disasters. In addition, some of the islands face the challenges of state fragility and weak governance and are facing an AIDS epidemic (particularly Papua New Guinea). Recent events on the Solomon Islands and East Timor bear witness to this. The Pacific Islands have priceless biodiversity which has to be protected as a 'global public good'. In Papua New Guinea, for example, fauna, flora and the tropic rainforest are an invaluable carbon well for combatting climate change and also provide valuable marine resources because this is sadly the only part of the world where natural resources have not yet been overexploited. The region's political and economic importance continues to grow due to increasing demand for its substantial natural resources (fish, timber, minerals, oil and gas), which the rest of the world is eyeing up with interest.
The growing geostrategic importance of the region to Australia and New Zealand and also the United States and Japan (and, more recently, China) is another fact which in the opinion of the European Commission, requires stronger partnership between the EU and the Pacific region. The strategy will bring the EU's relationship with the Pacific in line with the new EU development policy statement on Africa adopted by the European Council in December 2005, and the plan to beef up the EU's partnership with the Caribbean (still under discussion).