Forum Secretariat says meetings are still useful

Transcript

The latest annual Pacific Islands Forum meeting has come and gone with mixed reviews over what has actually been achieved.

Much hoped for action and solidarity on climate change was lacking but the Forum Secretariat still stands by its usefulness.  

Koro Vaka'uta reports.

During the summit, small states had called for greater action on climate change.  Niue's Premier Toke Talagi says quite often the meeting is a bit of a talk-fest with declaration after declaration made and minimal change.  Palau President Tommy Remengesau, who gave in the chairmanship at the meeting, says there is a tendency to just talk about issues without much action.

  TOMMY REMENGESAU:  We feel that we have been talking a lot and it's gone past the situation where talking is enough, now you have to put your cards on the table and it would help if there was solidarity on those cards.

The island countries had backed a limit of 1.5 degrees over pre-industrial temperatures, but Australia and New Zealand supported the prevailing international position of 2 degrees.  In the end there was a concessionary stance to agree to disagree. The Forum Secretary-General Dame Meg Taylor says this shows the regional body is still useful.  

DAME MEG TAYLOR:  I think one of the interesting issues about the way, the construct of the forum at the moment is that you have got two countries in the region who are developed economies, OECD countries, others that are not.  The fact that we are able to come out with agreement, says a lot.  

However the Fiji Foreign Minister says there needs to be changes to the way the Forum meeting is run.  Ratu Inoke Kubuabola attended last weeks summit in Port Moresby in place of Prime Minister Frank Bainimarama who has protested about the influence of Australia and New Zealand at the forum.  Ratu Inoke says although he was happy with the reception Fiji received after being absent through suspension for six years, he still feels the forum needs to undergo reform.

RATU INOKE KUBUABOLA:  Just sitting through the meetings, there needs to be some reforms because there is a lot of paperwork and a lot of meetings but I am not sure whether the end result is coming out as the leaders would like to see come out.

KORO VAKA'UTA:  What sort of reforms?

RATU INOKE KUBUABOLA:  To look at the ways some of the things that are being decided by the leaders are really carried out.  Instead of coming back every year there has to be some conclusion.

Ratu Inoke says he feels the Pacific Islands Development Forum, hosted by Fiji the week before, can complement the larger body by involving more private sector and civil society groups.  Tonga's Prime Minister 'Akilisi Pohiva attended his first forum in Port Moresby.  He says he learnt a lot but there may be more room for greater involvement of the civil service.   

'AKILISI POHIVA:  There are things that there are very, very important for us to have a look at.  The process to me is very important.  People, CEOs in the region, they are the people that do all the work.  They do all the work and then pass it on to the leaders.    

The New Zealand Prime Minister John Key says with 16 member countries, there are bound to be issues.

JOHN KEY:  Multi-lateral forums are always going to have challenges because they bring together sometimes a disparate group of countries with very different profiles.  New Zealand and Australia are developed OECD countries that have very different economies from say for instance Kiribati. Is this perfection?  Probably not, but what is the alternative?  The alternative is that we don't meet.

Mr Key says when New Zealand meets with larger countries outside of the Forum like the US and the UK, it often has robust discussions and doesn't always agree.  Next year's summit will be held in the Federated States of Mirconesia.