> PACIFIC MUST WORK TOGETHER, ECONOMIC MINISTERS STRESS
>
> By Ruth Waram
> Papua New Guinea Post-Courier
>
> PORT VILA, Vanuatu (July 5, 2002 - PINA Nius Online)---Pacific Islands
> countries must work together in the face of the globalization that is currently sweeping the world, the region's economic ministers said yesterday.
>
> Their joint statement at the end of the sixth Forum Economic Ministers
> Meeting (FEMM) recognized the strong inter-relationship
> between global and regional economic trends.
>
> The seventh FEMM meeting will be held in the Marshall Islands next year,
> Vanuatu's Finance Minister and the chairperson of the Port
> Vila FEMM, Sela Molisa, told reporters.
>
> He said the meeting had re-affirmed the importance of cooperation within the
> region to meet the challenges, and make better use of the
> opportunities of globalization.
>
> One of the new initiatives of the Port Vila meeting was the private
> sector/public sector partnership workshop.
>
> In this, members of the private sector meet with the government
> representatives and discussed how both can work together to improve
> regional economic development.
>
> Forum Secretary General Noel Levi said this would now be a regular feature of
> FEMM meetings, with the private sector/public sector
> workshop taking place prior to the ministers' meeting.
>
> One of the other new initiatives of the Vanuatu meeting was the result of the
> "stocktake" of how each member country was
> implementing the FEMM decisions from 1997 to 2001.
>
> On Wednesday, Mr. Levi had expressed concern during the opening of the
> meeting about how only six of the 14 members had
> responded to a 12-page questionnaire the Forum Secretariat sent to members.
>
> This was so they could compile a report for the Vanuatu forum.
>
> The FEMM meeting in Rarotonga, Cook Islands, last year had asked the Forum
> Secretariat to conduct the "stocktake" and report to
> the Port Vila meeting.
>
> Mr. Molisa said at the end of the meeting that the "stocktake" would now be
> held bi-annually.
>
> This was to give the members sufficient time to provide a detailed report on
> how they were implementing these decisions.
>
> Under the Economic Action Plan that was released at the end of the meeting,
> the ministers agreed that some of the broader issues that
> were raised by FEMM require focusing attention on:
>
> § good governance,
>
> § use of broad based consultation,
>
> § social economic assessments, and
>
> § improving the business environment.
>
> The ministers also agreed that each member country would examine further
> individual questions for national implementation. These
> include identifying a lead agency for coordinating internal consultation
> processes.
>
> The ministers said in the joint statement that good progress had been made by
> member countries in many areas, despite constraints in
> financial and human capacity.
>
> They also said that the ministers recognized that economic reform was most
> successful when conducted in partnership with the private
> sector.
>
> They encouraged wider consultation with all private sector interests when
> developing economic policies so that the implementation of
> these policies is more effective.
>
> Pacific Islands News Association (PINA)
> Website: <http://www.pinanius.org>
> SOURCE: Pacific Islands Report
>
>
>
>
>
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