PACER Plus

“New Zealand and Australia are being accused of pushing a trade deal to advance their own commercial interests at the expense of Pacific Islands’ national interests,” Green Party trade spokesperson Barry Coates said.
 
“The fact that the Pacific’s two biggest economies, Fiji and Papua New Guinea, have opted out is a warning sign that Australia and New Zealand have demanded too many concessions. Their absence from PACER Plus will undermine the existing Pacific Island Countries Trade Agreement (PICTA) and Pacific regionalism.
 

After more than six years of negotiations 12 Pacific Island Forum countries are expected to sign Pacer Plus this month..

Initially, the countries had pushed for legally binding arrangements on labour mobility but Australia and New Zealand convinced them otherwise, supposedly to protect the schemes' exclusivity to Pacific countries.

But the Solomon Islands foreign minister Milner Tozaka said it was still one of the main reasons they wanted to sign on.

Touted as a "trade and economic integration" agreement by Australia and New Zealand negotiations on PACER Plus have been going since 2009.

Its proponents say it aims to create jobs, raise standards of living and encourage sustainable economic development in the Pacific region.

But those campaigning against it say it is unnecessarily restrictive and does not achieve anything that could not be achieved bilaterally.

PACER-Plus promises a trade and economic integration deal between the Pacific island countries and Australia and New Zealand.

It has been under negotiation for eight years.

The Pacific Network Against Globalisation's campaigner, Adam Wolfenden, said the collapse of the TPP presented Australia and New Zealand with a chance to reframe PACER Plus.

RNZ reports Pala Molisa, who is ni-Vanuatuan, is a lecturer at the Victoria University of Wellington's School of Accounting and Commercial Law.

He said by choosing to conduct trade negotiations behind closed doors and refusing to release trade documents to the public, Pacific leaders have shown a lack of faith in democracy and a lack of respect for the public.

Mr Molisa said the leaders' actions were also at odds with their claims that PACER-Plus will be good for the Pacific.

RNZ reports On Friday, Fiji's trade minister, Faiyaz Koya, said his country was withdrawing from negotiations for PACER-Plus, citing inflexibility from Australia and New Zealand.

Fiji's withdrawal would mean the Pacific's two largest economies outside of New Zealand and Australia - Fiji and Papua New Guinea - would not be included in the deal.

Vanuatu had also recently expressed dissatisfaction.

But Dr Edwini Kessie said the remaining issues were not serious, and he believed a deal could still be reached - with Fiji included.

The countries had been seeking a legally binding agreement on labour mobility as part of negotiations around a new trade deal, PACER- Plus.

Meetings on Pacific labour mobility arrangements with Australia and New Zealand, which give unskilled workers from Pacific Island countries seasonal work visas, were held last week in New Zealand ahead of the latest rounds of talks on PACER-Plus.

At the meeting all parties agreed to have the respective Australian and New Zealand labour mobility schemes remain under non-legally binding arrangements.

Senior representatives from 16 countries met in Christchurch, to negotiate the final terms of the 'Pacific Agreement on Closer Economic Relations Plus' (PACER Plus) agreement which aims to create jobs and raise standards of living in the Pacific region.                                               

The ministers agreed to conclude negotiations by the end of October and seal the agreement by December, NZ minister of trade Todd McClay said in a statement.

PACER Plus aims to create jobs, raise standards of living and encourage sustainable economic development in the Pacific region. 

RNZ reports the region's trade ministers are preparing to meet in Christchurch this Friday to further discuss the agreement.

Negotiations started in 2009 and are on track to wrap up later this year.

A report from the Pacific Network on Globalisation has warned that PACER-Plus poses significant threats to island nations' governments.

It said this included threats to their right to regulate, the right to food, significant negative health impacts and disproportionate impacts on women.