..Press Release................................ UNESCAP News Services

Date 10 April 2006 2006
Press Release No: G/24/CS62/18

UNESCAP’s 62nd Commission Session, 6-12 April 2006

PACIFIC LEADERS URGE
GREATER FOCUS
ON SUBREGION

Win-win outcomes for all emphasized

JAKARTA, 10 April -- Pacific island leaders have called for greater support to the subregon’s development efforts and regional cooperation in the Pacific. The call was made at the conclusion of the Pacific Leaders’ United Nations ESCAP Special Session (PLUS) held today as part the ESCAP 62nd Commission Session.

H.E. Sato Kilman, Deputy Prime Minister of Vanuatu, one of the panellists noted “Asia’s dynamic growth” on one hand and the “relatively poor economic performance” of the Pacific islands on the other.

The President of Indonesia, H.E. Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, in welcoming the Pacific leaders and representatives, referred to Indonesia as a natural gateway into Asia, given Indonesia’s special ties and interests in the Pacific islands.

President Yudhoyono called on UNESCAP and other regional bodies to make the Pacific a major focus of their work.

Areas highlighted in the PLUS session for Asia-Pacific cooperation included economic growth, employment and sustainable development; economic infrastructure, including ICT and renewable energy; and trade, investment and tourism.

Asia had much to offer the Pacific, the meeting was told. But it also had interests in the Pacific, including in fisheries and trade where Asian imports were becoming a growing feature.

“Fisheries, a US$2 billion a year industry in the Pacific, is one area where the Pacific would like to see higher returns than the 5-8% being received,” President Anote Tong of Kiribati said.

The meeting also agreed that it was important to think small so as to be relevant to the needs of small Pacific island countries and to preserve their integrity and cultural identity. Genuine partnership as a means for securing win-win outcomes for all was also emphasized.

An area of possible mutual interest was the utilization of Asian financial surpluses, US$3 trillion, in joint business ventures in ICT, transport and renewable energy.

This could include “the possible setting up and operation of improved satellite communication infrastructure for the Pacific small states,” according to the Prime Minister of Tuvalu, H.E. Maatia Toafa.

In his opening and closing remarks, the PLUS Chairman, H.E. Kesai Note, President of Marshall Islands, expressed on behalf of the Pacific, his deepest appreciation to the President of Indonesia for the warm hospitality and his deep personal interest in the affairs of the Pacific islands.

He also thanked UNESCAP Executive Secretary Kim Hak-Su and the Secretariat for convening, in collaboration with the Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat and UNDP, the first ever PLUS and for their continuing commitment to the Asia-Pacific region.

Mr. Kim told the leaders, “It is my hope that PLUS will give a new impetus to strengthening Pacific-Asia partnership and to articulating with greater clarity and more loudly than ever before the Pacific voice in the Regional Commission.”

The Commission Session is expected to end with a special resolution calling on the UN and partners for more resources to support the implementation of the Pacific Plan and regionalism in the Pacific.

Headquartered in Bangkok, Thailand, the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP) is the largest of the UN's five Regional Commissions, in terms of population served and area covered. The only inter-governmental forum covering the entire Asia-Pacific region, it aims to promote economic development and social progress in the developing countries of the Asian and Pacific region.

 

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