By HELEN TUNNAH and ANGELA GREGORY
Pacific leaders have agreed to step up regional co-operation, from fighting crime to streamlining banking systems, as the region tries to shore up its members' viability.
With a number of Pacific Islands Forum states afflicted by increasing crime, corruption and failing economies, a new vision for
the 16-member group has proposed greater integration and resource-sharing as the best way to secure the Pacific's future.
The broad aims confirmed by leaders yesterday stop short of setting up a formal Pacific Union, similar to the concept of the European Union, but it remains a prospect.
New Zealand and Australia have tried to talk down expectations of a formal union, but Fiji's Prime Minister, Laisenia Qarase, confirmed it was an idea on the table.
He said, though: "I think we should leave it at that. We should not rule it out, it's an option that can be considered some time in the future."
Australia's Prime Minister, John Howard, said talk of a Pacific Union was premature and counterproductive.
"Let us crawl before we walk, and we may have to crawl for quite some time," he said.
Fifteen of the forum's 16 members met in Auckland yesterday at a special mini-summit of the Pacific Forum to give their formal backing to a report on a proposed new "vision for the region" to focus on economic growth, sustainable development, good governance and security.
A new role for the forum's secretary-general will allow him to take a leading role in regional crises, including security breakdowns, and incumbent Greg Urwin is to draw up a work programme for the next full meeting in Samoa in August.
The report focuses on the pooling of resources across the region, and notes the possibility of streamlined standards for customs, financial and justice systems, along with a regional panel of judges, a regional shipping industry and a regional "financial intelligence unit".
