Pacific Partnerships sets a new direction for Australian aid [1]
Thursday, June 4, 2009 - 15:45. Updated on Friday, May 9, 2014 - 22:31.
By Pesi Fonua
A visit to Tonga by the Australian Minister for Foreign Affairs, Hon. Stephen Smith highlighted a desire by both countries to further strengthen their relationship.
This was emphasized at a joint press conference yesterday, June 3, by both the Tongan Prime Minister, Dr Feleti Sevele and Hon. Stephen Smith. In particular, they referred in the area of development assistance, under the Australia's proposed Pacific Partnerships for Development Agreement, and in trade under the Australia and New Zealand free trade initiative, PACER Plus.
Mr Smith said that the Partnership Agreement was a new initiative of his government when it came into power, and it set a new direction for Australian aid to the region with the emphasis on capacity building. He gave an example, that in the past Australia offered scholarships only for students to attend university, but now they had extended it to include technical and vocational training.
Global financial crisis
Commenting on how Australia might assist the fragile economies of the Pacific Islands during this time of global financial crisis, Mr Smith said that Australia, a member of the G-20, could present the Pacific concerns over the impact of the global financial crisis on their economies to its meeting for discussion.
The G-20, "Group of Twenty" is made up of finance ministers and central bank governors from 19 countries plus the Governor of the European Central Bank. The G-20 brings together important industrial and emerging-market countries from all regions of the world. The G-20s core mission is to promote open and constructive exchanges between advanced and emerging-market countries on key issues related to global economic stability and growth.
Work schemes
With regards to a pilot seasonal work scheme for Tongans and other Pacific islanders in Australia, Mr Smith said that they still don't know when the pilot scheme will cease before they proceed with the full program. He said there were still some problems that they wanted to iron out before they proceeded with the full program. There are about 50 Tongans who are working in Australia under the pilot working scheme.