Majuro prepares
p. 28 · Read in the full issue
Opinion
Majuro prepares for the region’s top guns
Preparations are progressing well in the Republic of the Marshall Islands (RMI) capital, Majuro, venue of the 27th Summit of the South Pacific Forum and associated meetings later this year.
It is most likely the Forum Officials Committee pre-Forum sessions will start around the end of August, to be followed by the South Pacific Forum itself in the first week of September. The Post-Forum Dialogue Partners meeting is likely to be held during the second week of September.
It will be RMTs first time to host the South Pacific Forum and associated meet ings. The Leaders Summit itself is a very important meeting. It is the only time each year when the region’s top political leaders get together to discuss and help find solu tions to many issues critical to the region.
Discussions at this year’s Forum are expected to follow similar patterns estab lished at the 25th Summit in Brisbane, Australia, in 1994. There will be a com mon theme, encompassing a wide range of related issues from politics to regional trade and investment. Such a format has been very helpful, in that, it helps leaders to be focused in their deliberations.
A theme for this year’s forum is being developed with senior officials working with the host government on a common one.
Like many other past Forums, there will be new faces this year, brought about by the tide of national elections. Among them will be Prime Minister John Howard who came to power after Australia’s national elections in March.
President Lagumot Harris of Nauru will also be a new face, although he is not new to the South Pacific Forum processes. He represented his country in technical nego tiations which led to the establishment of
the South Pacific Nuclear Free Zone Treaty also known as the Rarotonga Treaty in the mid 1980’s.
A decade after the Rarotonga Treaty entered into force, the United States, the United Kingdom and France finally ini tialed the three Protocols to the Treaty on March 25 in Suva.
Among political questions to be resolved at this year’s forum meeting will be last year’s suspension of France as a Post-Forum Dialogue Partner. France was suspended from the Post-Forum Dialogue last October after it defied a warning by the South Pacific Forum that its status would be reviewed if it did not end its nuclear test series immediately.
France attended the Post-Forum Dialogue Partners’ gathering in Port Moresby last September, shortly before the suspension was announced on October 2 by Sir Julius Chan, Chair of the South Pacific Forum and Prime Minister of Papua New Guinea.
It will be a question for the region’s top guns to discuss. The prospect for restoring France’s status may not be good, but to suggest even by implication that it will be how things will turn out would be pre sumptuous on anyone’s part. It is a ques tion for the leaders to decide.
The Pacific is always forgiving and accommodating. The leaders may very well decide to exercise that unique Pacific Way by forgiving France and allowing it back into the Post-Forum Dialogue Partners fold.
Leaders could use speedy ratification of the South Pacific Nuclear Free Zone Treaty as a pre-requisite for re-admitting France. Important as it is, ratification is not the only consideration in this. There are other factors on which the South Pacific Forum has taken a stand.
These include the successful conclu sion of a truly Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT) by the end of the year, unrestricted access to Mururoa and Fangataufa test sites acceptance of full
responsibility, including compensation, by
France for any adverse impact found.
France is funding a radiological study of Mururoa and Fangataufa under the aus pices of the Vienna-based International Atomic Energy Agency (lAEA). This study was due to commence at the end of March.
The study will take 18 months. Dr Vili Fuavao, currently the Director of the Apia based South Pacific Regional Environment Programme (SPREP), has accepted an invitation to represent the South Pacific Forum on an International Advisory Committee (lAC) which will direct the study.
Australia and New Zealand - two other members of the South Pacific Forum - are also represented on the lAC.
One of the primary functions of the study is to provide an assessment of the current radiological situation on Mururoa and Fangataufa Atolls as well as an evalu ation of the potential long-term impact of nuclear testing there.
France has also made important contri butions towards the region’s overall devel opment. Its role in the affairs of French Polynesia and New Caledonia are very important. France will continue to play that role as long as Tahiti and New Caledonia remain in French hands.
The outcome of the French suspension question will be worth watching in the months ahead prior to and during the Leader’s Summit. ■