The second round of global financial crisis precipitated by the Terrorism will be among the main items of economic debacle in the US and Europe will dominate the discussions at the Pacific Island Forum (PIF) due to begin in Auckland next week.
The UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon, listed as an ‘Internationally Protected Person’ (IPP) and Commonwealth Secretary General Kamalesh Sharma (who has the status of Head of State), World Bank President Robert Zoellick and Asian Development Bank President Haruhiko Kurodo will be among the international VIPs attending the 42nd PIF hosted by New Zealand this year, coinciding with the Rugby World Cup.
Many of the visiting leaders are expected to attend the inaugural ceremony at Eden Park on September 9.
Prime Ministers of 15 Member Countries of the PIF, including Australia, Cook Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, Fiji, Kiribati, Marshall Islands, Nauru, New Zealand, Niue, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Tuvalu and Vanuatu will attend the seven-day Forum meetings.
Fiji, which was suspended three years ago for its failure to reinstate democracy, will be conspicuous by its absence.
In fact, “How do you solve a problem like Fiji?” will be the song that will reverberate the corridors of the Forum.
The Fiji impasse
Australia, New Zealand and other PIF countries have been caught in their own cobweb of rhetoric since Commodore Josaia Voreqe Bainimarama overthrew the Laisenia Qarase Government and established his military rule on December 5, 2006. There is no political will to resolve the crisis and keeping Fiji out of the Pacific Island league has done no one any good, least of all Australia and New Zealand, the two richest and most powerful countries in the South Pacific region.
Fiji’s refusal to subjugate itself to the strictures of PIF has been a source of frustration to Australia and New Zealand.
The Forum’s Dialogue Partners Canada, China, European Union, France, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Philippines, Thailand, UK and US would be keen to know how the PIF plans to deal with its tiny member. Over the past four years, Fiji has proved that even small nations can be tough and stand-up to their intimidating neighbours.
Police Action
Meanwhile, the PIF would test the calibre and preparedness of the Auckland City District Police, which is also charged with the task of running the Rugby World Cup events in the City without any serious incidents.
Inspector John Mitchell and Senior Sergeant Rod Salt told a community briefing that the commitment of the Police to the two major events would be significant.
“We have sourced staff from the City, including Auckland based national service centres such as Prosecutions, Northern Communications Centre & Training. The Police operation will commence on September 4 with the arrival of the first IPP and conclude on September 10.
“This operation will be separate to the Rugby World Cup,” he said.
According to Inspector Mitchell, all locations will have internal and external Police security, the level of which will be determined by the threat assessment to the Internationally Protected Persons (IPPs) involved.
Editor’s Note: We have penned our thoughts on Fiji and the Forum in our Editorial (see Viewlink in this issue) titled, Forum without Fiji gets exclusive.
We will analyse the issues covered by the Forum in our next issue.
