Related information and links: Pacific Islands Forum

35th meeting of the Pacific Islands Forum - Apia, Samoa 3-10 August

Guide to the Pacific Islands Forum

Documents and transcripts

Website



Documents and transcripts:


Auckland Declaration
Special leader's retreat


Website:

Pacific Islands Forum


Guide to the Pacific Islands Forum:

What is the Pacific Forum?

How long has the Pacific Forum operated?

What countries belong to the Pacific Forum?

Are other countries involved?

How does the Pacific Forum operate?

What is the Forum's International standing?

How is the Forum administered?

Who funds the Pacific Forum?

Why is the Pacific Forum important to New Zealand?

What has the Pacific Forum achieved?



What is the Pacific Forum?

Sixteen countries from the Pacific region that come together every year to discuss issues that impact on the Pacific community. The Pacific Islands Forum has evolved into the only regional grouping of Pacific nations with the scope to discuss, develop and implement strategies that enhance the security, governance and sustainable development of its membership. It also provides a collective voice for the region in wider international settings.


How long has the Pacific Forum operated?

It was originally created in 1971 (and known then as the South Pacific Forum) by Australia, the Cook Islands, Fiji, Nauru, New Zealand, Tonga and Western Samoa.


What countries belong to the Pacific Forum?

The original seven countries mentioned above have been joined by, in order, Niue, Papua New Guinea, Kiribati, Tuvalu, Vanuatu, Solomon Islands, The Republic of the Marshall Islands, the Federated States of Micronesia, and Palau.


Are other countries involved?

Post Forum dialogues have been held since 1989 with invited countries and groupings from outside the region. These countries and groupings are invited because of their interest in Pacific affairs.

Dialogue partners are currently Canada, China, the European Union, France, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, the Philippines, South Korea, the UK, the USA and India.


How does the Pacific Forum operate?

Forum heads of Government meet in one member country for several days each year. Leaders and delegates deal with matters brought to their attention by the Forum Secretariat, Forum committees, Forum Ministers' meetings and regional organisations. A leaders' retreat provides the opportunity for private discussion, and the conclusions of the Heads of Government meeting are published in a communiqué.




What is the Forum's International standing?

The Forum has observer status at the United Nations and in the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) process. The Forum also allows Pacific views to be presented to international gatherings such as the recent World Summit on Sustainable Development. Since its early days, the Forum has taken a vocal stand on decolonisation and self determination, particularly regarding New Caledonia. In 1999, members welcomed New Caledonia as an observer, on the basis of its transition towards self government. This year, French Polynesia is seeking observer status.


How is the Forum administered?

The Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat undertakes programmes and activities that support, or implement, decisions by the Forum leaders.

The Secretariat gives policy advice and technical assistance on development and economic issues, promotes the Forum's position and interests in International Fora, and helps members to improve their trade and investment performances.

The Forum Secretariat chairs of the Council of Regional Organisations in the Pacific (CROP), and operates four trade offices in Auckland, Beijing, Sydney and Tokyo.


Who funds the Pacific Forum?

New Zealand and Australia each pay about a third of the cost of the Forum's core budget, with Pacific Island countries collectively paying the other third.


Why is the Pacific Forum important to New Zealand?

New Zealand seeks a peaceful, prosperous neighbourhood, free from crime and major environmental problems, where natural resources are managed fairly and responsibly.

While individual governments work within their own borders to achieve these goals, regional progress depends on inter-country co-operation.

The Pacific Islands Forum is the main regional grouping for tackling problems at government-to-government level.

New Zealand's involvement with the Pacific Islands Forum is essential to being a good regional neighbour and international citizen, and for advancing its own regional interests.


What has the Pacific Forum achieved?

Forum sponsored efforts include the creation and development of the South Pacific Nuclear Free Zone, the Driftnet Fishing Convention, sustainable use of the oceans, the international representations of small island developing states, and conflict resolution work in both Solomon Islands and Bougainville.

The 1985 South Pacific Nuclear Free Zone Treaty bans the manufacture, possession, stationing and testing of nuclear explosive devices in treaty territories. It also bans the dumping at sea of nuclear waste.

All Forum members except the Micronesian states have now signed and ratified the Treaty, and the majority of its protocols have been signed by the 'big five' nuclear powers; the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Russia, and China. Of those powers to have signed the protocols, only the United States has yet to ratify them.

In 2001, the Forum was instrumental in having the concerns of small island developing states adopted virtually complete in the Johannesburg Plan of Implementation, the formal outcome of the 2002 World Summit on Sustainable Development.

The 1999 Forum meeting endorsed the idea of a Pacific Free Trade area and directed officials to negotiate a draft agreement. That directive led to the 2001 signing of the Pacific Agreement on Closer Economic Relations (PACER).

It is likely that a Pacific Island Air Services Agreement (PIASA) will be signed by leaders at this year's Forum. This agreement is intended to lead to a single aviation market and bring benefits in terms of increased access to air routes between Forum island countries, more airline alliances and code-sharing arrangements, and cost savings for airlines and travellers.

The Biketawa Declaration, signed at the Kiribati Forum in 2000, provides for Forum members to help each other in time of crisis or in response to members' request for assistance. The Declaration provides the framework within which action has been taken by Forum member countries in response to the Solomon Islands Government's request for help in dealing with its law and order problems. The commitment of New Zealand police personnel, backed by armed peacekeepers, to work in the Solomon Islands can be linked to the recognition given at Biketawa of the need to assist members of the "Pacific Islands extended family" in time of crisis.

The Apia Forum is scheduled to consider terms of reference and a framework for the implementation of the Pacific Plan. This was one outcome of an Eminent Persons' Review of the Forum that was carried out November 2003-March 2004 and substantially adopted at a Forum Special Leaders' Retreat held in Auckland during April. The Pacific Plan proposes assessing current levels of Pacific cooperation in a wide range of areas and then developing processes for developing and intensifying these.


* Guide to Pacific Islands Forum provided by the New Zealand Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade