9TH PACIFIC ISLANDS LEADERS MEETING SENIOR PALM OFFICIALS DISCUSS WAY FORWARD
IN AREAS OF MARITIME, RESILIENCE AND SUSUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT, ENVIRONMENT, CITIZENSHIP AND BIG PALM MEETING Karan, in his intervention, acknowledged the efforts of the government of Japan in aligning its policy direction in the Pacific Islands region.
The Permanent Secretary, Office of the Prime Minister and Acting Permanent Secretary for Foreign Affairs, Yogesh Karan, began his two-day official visit to Japan this week on Monday.
The visit is to attend the proposed Senior Officials’ Meeting for the 9th Pacific Islands Leaders Meeting (SOM9) termed as “Meeting for Discussion on Co-operation Among Pacific Islanders” due to a request for postponement from the PIFS and Tuvalu. The meeting was hosted at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Tokyo, Japan.
The meeting also included open discussions by participating members, as it prepares for the 4th PALM Ministerial Interim Meeting in July 2020, and the PALM9 scheduled to be hosted in Japan in 2021.
The meeting was co-chaired by Toshihisa Takata, Ambassador for the Pacific Island Region, Ministry of Foreign Affairs Tokyo, and Camilla Solomon, Secretary for Foreign Affairs and Trade, Republic of Nauru.
Also attending were senior officials from Pacific Island Countries, including Australia and New Zealand and respective local government and line agencies in Japan.
The senior officials meeting has been held every three years since 1997, to exchange views at the leaders’ level on various issues and challenges facing Pacific island countries and regions.
During the meeting, participants conducted a lively exchange of views on areas of common interest including thematical focus on:
1. Maritime order based on the rule of law and sustainability of ocean resources;
2. Strengthening the Basis for Resilient and Sustainable Development;
3. Connecting Pacific Citizens;
4. Looking forward and planning the 4th PALM Ministerial Interim Meeting and onto PALM9.
The meeting also addressed the importance of enhancing connectivity through both hard and soft infrastructure; the comprehensive development on trade, investment and tourism promotion; capacity building on health, disaster management and responses, together with support for fiscal resiliency, and environment and climate change, discussed at length.
Mr Karan, in his intervention, acknowledged the efforts of the Government of Japan in aligning its policy direction in the Pacific Islands region under the three goals one of which is “realising self-reliant, stable growth and development in the region by ensuring a foundation for resilient and sustainable development”.
He further stressed the need to make space for the Blue Pacific within Japan’s Free and Open Indo-Pacific Strategy, and the need to cooperate, for we can only meet the objectives of the 2030 Agenda, the Paris Agreement, and the Sendai Framework in the Pacific through strengthened regional and national mechanisms and with the support of development partners like Japan.
The government of Japan was also urged to consider joining the Pacific Blue Shipping Partnership, which Fiji and the Republic of Marshall Islands are leading, with the aim of decarbonising the shipping industry by 2050.
Japan, in one of its interventions, elaborated on the direction of Japan’s policy towards the Pacific Island Countries.
It stressed the three-basic policy, including reinforcing and concentrating resources toward the Pacific Islands Countries, strengthening Initiatives with “All Japan” efforts, and enhancing cooperation and coordination with other countries.
Japan emphasised on its collective coordination with Ministries and Agencies in its effort to expand cooperation in a wide range of areas.
The presentation by local governments, for instance, Kochi Prefecture on strengthening relationships between PICs and Japan’s local governments provided a space to acknowledge the people-to-people exchanges undertaken thus far, as well as the technical and capacity building with Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology (JAMSTEC), Japan Coast Guard (JCG) and Overseas Fishery Cooperation Foundation (OFCF).
It is also noted that in Japan’s Initiative on Climate Change, the Government of Japan has implemented various support and measures of mitigation and adaptation in developing countries, particularly from 2017-2018, Japan’s financial support has reached approximately US$25 billion (about FJ$54.8 billion) mobilising on the ODA (including Grant aid, loan and technical assistance), OOF (including public loan in co-financing by Japan Bank for International Cooperation - JBIC) and private finance (including those mobilized by JBIC for private finance and Nippon Export and Investment insurance for trade insurance).
The Green Climate Fund, which is the largest climate fund for supporting developing countries, also revealed Japan as the second-largest contribution next to the U.K, with a total of US$3 billion.
Fiji, in its open discussion intervention, also expressed the importance of people-to-people exchanges, which initially from sports could lead to tourism, trade, and even ties up to investment.
The ongoing discussion for Fiji on the provision of expertise, in particular, retired teachers who have now taken up employment in some Pacific Island Countries, and how costsharing of the said could be raised for consideration by the host country and Japan was also noted.
Discussion on strengthening Japan’s relations with Pacific Island Countries through active exchanges were also noted. Ambassador Takata, once again expressed Japan’s intention in making PALM a useful and meaningful platform, as well to continue exchanges undertaken thus far.
The co-chair expressed heartfelt appreciation to all participants.