NOUMEA, New Caledonia (Oceania Flash,
October 5) – French Polynesia and New Caledonia
have on Wednesday obtained the Pacific Islands Forum officials endorsement to
become associate members within the regional organisation, which groups
sixteen Pacific Island independent States.
The Forum Officials Committee (FOC), during its meeting earlier this week ahead of the 37th Pacific islands forum Leaders Summit to be held in Nadi (Fiji) from October 23, recommended that the two French Pacific countries access the newly-created status.
Decisions endorsed by Forum officials in their pre-summit meetings are usually endorsed and acted upon by regional leaders during the annual summit per se.
In effect, this would give New Caledonia and French Polynesia, for the first time, a say in the debates, whereas until now, they were only allowed as observers.
New Caledonia and French Polynesia have gained observer status within the Forum respectively in 1999 and 2004.
Last year, during the Forum leaders' summit in Port Moresby (Papua New Guinea), the regional organisation also heralded a more open approach to the non-sovereign Pacific countries and territories, including the French ones.
This open door policy has translated into an offer for those entities to join, if they wished, a newly-created "associate member" status.
Both New Caledonia and French Polynesia took up the offer, with the support of the French government.
Wallis and Futuna, the third French Pacific territory, had applied to an observer status.
But the FOC, this week, requested "more information", which in effect would mean that Wallis and Futuna would probably not access the observer status before next year.
In June this year, speaking at the end of a "France-Oceania" summit in Paris, French President Jacques Chirac also mentioned the issue, saying that he "wished to see New Caledonia and French Polynesia gain access to associate member status at the Forum, and Wallis and Futuna to that of an observer".
Also in Paris at the time with the Forum's 16 member countries representatives, Papua New Guinea Prime minister Sir Michael Somare, who is also the current chairman of the Pacific Islands Forum, told a press conference that he believed France's standing and attitude within the Pacific region had "completely changed over the past ten years".
"France has always had an interest in the Pacific … There is a good sense of honesty in how France now deals with the Pacific… Indications are that this relationship is on a progressive path. This time, there is a real commitment to help us", he told journalists.
Sir Michael also told regional leaders, during a keynote address, that the Forum "applauds France’s helpful efforts in integrating its Pacific territories with the other countries of the region. I welcome the French Government’s decision to allow New Caledonia and French Polynesia to be associate members of, and for Wallis and Fortuna to seek observer status, to the Pacific Islands Forum."
French minister for overseas territories François Baroin also expressed, earlier this year, confidence in the integration moves within the Forum.
"More and more, we are inciting our territories to enter regional cooperation agreements with neighbouring countries. I believe our countries and territories' development can only happen through their better insertion in the region", he said.
"France, on its part, should become a privileged Forum partner and therefore take part in annual meetings of what is the main political organisation of the region. This is still being discussed with our partners. But there is a will to allow (French) countries and territories to integrate even more in this part of the world", the minister said.
France is currently part of the "post-Forum dialog" group of partners and already holds talks with the regional organisation, on a multilateral basis, straight after the Forum leaders' summit each year.
The post-Forum dialog partners are currently (and since the first such post-Forum talks) Canada, the United Kingdom, the People's Republic of China, France, Japan, the United States, the European Union (since 1991), South Korea (since1995), Malaysia (since 1997), Philippines (1999), Indonesia (2001) and India (2003).
Since 1993, the Forum has also moved to set up an informal dialog with Taiwan.
The Forum's full members are Australia, the Cook Islands, the Federated States of Micronesia, Fiji, Kiribati, the Marshall Islands, Nauru, New Zealand, Niue, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, the Solomon Islands, Tonga, Tuvalu and Vanuatu.
Oceania Flash: E-mail/Courriel: padec@iname.com