ISDS Case Map
Pacific Islands / Pacific Forum
Niue has ratified the regional trade agreement PACER Plus, pushing it closer to implementation.
The Pacific Island Countries (PICs) are taking on disproportionate binding commitments in exchange for false promises of benefits from the regional free trade deal known as PACER-Plus.
What the development assistance arrangement results in, is aid money, tightly controlled by Australia and New Zealand to flow to areas that will make Forum Island Countries uphold their commitments on market access, ultimately benefiting the two metropolitan Parties.
PACER-Plus itself achieved little by way of actual improvements for Pacific Islander workers to access the labour markets of Australia and New Zealand.
The trade deal known as Pacer Plus will have immediate benefits for the Cook Islands when it comes into force later this year, says the Cooks' deputy prime minister.
In this interview, we discuss the PACER+ trade deal, the post Cotonou talks with the EU and the influence of China's Belt and Road Initiative in the Pacific region.
The new agreements cover a range of areas, including education, e-commerce, investment, infrastructure and agriculture.
Pacer Plus has been promoted as a hybrid development and trade deal, with the primary benefits going to the nine Pacific countries that have signed the deal.
Despite the failures of the EPA to deliver real development to Pacific countries it looks as though the European Union will once again, through the Post Cotonou Agreement, push for enhanced and undistorted access for European investments to Pacific resources.
China is launching an agricultural training programme for Pacific Island countries to bring their industries in line with Chinese standards.
