ISDS Case Map
Fiji
The negotiations are said to offer an opportunity to help Pacific Islands Forum countries benefit from enhanced regional trade and economic integration.
Defending Pacific ways of life: A Peoples Social Impact Assessment of PACER-Plus, was commissioned by the Pacific Network on Globalisation (PANG) to provide Pacific governments, negotiators, parliamentarians, civil society actors, customary landowners and the private sector with an alternative assessment to the impacts that PACER-Plus will have on the region.
Pacific island governments should retain their legal right to regulate to protect their national development interests, which include the ownership and control of land, natural resources and environment, as well as the social and economic rights of their people ahead of the empty development promises from Australia and New Zealand and walk away from the regional trade talks known as PACER-Plus, a new report released today recommends.
A Melanesian Free Trade Agreement is expected to come into force after negotiations for a new deal concluded in Vanutau.
The Melanesian Spearhead Group (MSG) will have to work on the new and stronger MSG trade agreement (MTA) before the finalisation of the Pacific Agreement on Closer Economic Relations (PACER) Plus.
Since 1981 when Pacific states had a preferential trade agreement with Australia and NZ and the successor PACER in 2002, the old ways of doing business has changed.
PACER-Plus is shaping up as an agreement that won't fit into the Pacific reality, will have weak protections for Pacific businesses and undermines the ability of governments to enact policies to support and nurture vital Pacific industries.
Fiji may consider pulling out from the Pacific Agreement for Closer Economic Relations or PACER plus.
Despite receiving little attention in Australia, efforts to establish a new regional trade agreement are raising eyebrows among Pacific neighbours
Agreement must be development-centered
