PACER-PLUS WILL NOT REALLY HELP VANUATU: Morgan By Online Editor, 4:19 pm GMT+12, 17/03/2014, Vanuatu An expert on regionalism and trade issues says PACER-Plus will not help Vanuatu. About 20 youth representatives and youth leaders from Port Vila were briefed on PACER-Plus trade agreement from Wesley Morgan, an expert on regionalism who spent years with Oxfam working on Pacific trade issues, on Friday. Morgan gave a three hour presentation followed by discussions on the topic Friday morning at the Ex-FOL organized by the Vanuatu Non-Government Organization (VANGO) and the Vanuatu National Youth Council for youths, women, and church organization members as part of their awareness on issues that impact or will impact on their daily lives. He said PACER Plus was an international free-trade agreement between Australia and New Zealand and 14 Pacific Island countries of the Pacific Islands Forum. Australia’s former Trade Minister, Simon Crean described PACER-Plus as “fundamentally concerned with developing the capacity of the region.” But Papua New Guinea’s Trade Minister, Richard Maru, in May 2013 called it “a waste of time”. Morgan pointed out that Vanuatu had recommended the Pacific form a Pacific Agreement on Cooperation and Partnership (PACP) free trade agreement that would bind only the 14 Forum countries but not Australia and New Zealand. In reaction to this suggestion, Australia strongly argued that Australia and New Zealand must be included in such an agreement and pushed forward the PACER-Plus trade agreement in 2009. To this day it is still in the negotiation stage with OCTA, the Office of the Chief Trade Advisor, based in Port Vila, leading the negotiations on behalf of the Pacific Islands countries and no country has yet signed the agreement. Morgan said Pacific Island Countries want a “recognition of their unique circumstances such being isolated, small, geographically dispersed, prone to natural disasters, limited diversification in exports, and vulnerability to economic shocks” reflected in PACER Plus. “Solomon Islands’ Trade Envoy, Robert Sisilo said in 2011 that Pacific Island Countries wanted labor mobility first before PACER-Plus”,” Morgan told the gathering in his presentation. Hence, access to Australian and New Zealand labor markets and development assistance (aid) to help develop trade capacity are what the 14 Pacific Island countries want. “For their part, Australia and New Zealand are listening to the 14 Forum countries and saying, “At the moment there is nothing on the table”, Morgan added. Following this, in 2007 New Zealand introduced the Recognized Seasonal Employment (RSE) scheme in 2007. Australia introduced its labor mobility scheme in 2009. The question being asked today is: why not have labor mobility as a separate agreement than being part of PACER-Plus? Morgan then highlighted civil society concerns about PACER-Plus which mainly are about revenue consequences and readjustment costs, business closures and job losses and no guarantee of benefits. Kiribati says it will lose 16 % in government revenue from loss of customs tariffs and Vanuatu 18%. On December 7, 2012 Vanuatu Beverage closed production of its “Spashe” soft drink and loss of jobs for 42 workers terminated from increased competition from Coca Cola from Fiji which is produced at lower cost, ias an example of concerns about business closures and job loses, given by Morgan. On the question of what can Australia and New Zealand do to help Vanuatu trade, Morgan noted the following points: speed up the quarantine assessment of Pacific Island Countries’ agricultural products; change in use by farmers of backpackers to pick fruit; repeal ban on kava exports to Australia; and help with aid for trade. On the question of whether PACER-Plus will help Vanuatu, Morgan answered – “not really; potential costs will be high; Vanuatu already has tariff free access to Australia and New Zealand; and quarantine issues will remain for agricultural”. SOURCE: VANUATU DAILY POST/PACNEWS
Posted on: Tue, 18 Mar 2014 19:05:05 +0000