A more targeted and mutually accountable Regional Partnership that clearly sets out the specific areas of the Republic of Korea's assistance was agreed upon during a 2nd Korea-Pacific Islands Senior Officials Meeting held in Seoul this week.

Fourteen Pacific Island countries from the Cook Islands, Fiji, Kiribati, the Marshall Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, Nauru, Niue, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Tuvalu, Vanuatu and the Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat (PIFS) met senior officials from the Republic of Korea (ROK).

The meeting which highlighted the need to intensify cooperation in climate change, development cooperation, marine and fisheries management was expected to help expand the ROK’s diplomatic horizon and build a stronger foundation for cooperation between the two sides by contributing to Pacific Island countries sustainable development and fight against climate change.

The ROK andPacific Island countries agreed that a more targeted and mutually accountable regional partnership is needed to be developed between them, one that spells out in clear terms the specific areas of ROK’s assistance and level of assistance needed to support its implementation, according to the Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat.

"This is a significant step in the right direction for ROK-Pacific Island countries relations especially in regards to measuring effective development partnerships. It was also acknowledged that the scope of development cooperation needed to be broadened beyond overseas development assistance with consideration of the promotion of private sector engagement, trade and investment and greater access to climate change financing as central to supporting coordination between ROK and Pacific Island countries."

Collaborate

The Pacific Ocean remained an issue of significant and equal importance to the ROK and Pacific Island countries as a mutually beneficial resource, it was acknowledged that there was a scope to collaborate in the field of marine resource management, marine scientific research and technology, capacity building, tourism, energy and deep-sea minerals.

The meeting also stressed the importance of maintaining environmental integrity while pursuing the sustainable development of natural resources including for increasing Pacific Island countries capacity and surveillance on illegal, unreported and unregulated fisheries in the Pacific.

Pacific Island countries representatives also extended their gratitude to the Korean Government’s assistance in enhancing the public health and medical services in the region through the Primary Health Care Training program under the 2011-13 ROK-PIF Cooperation Fund allocation.

As part of meeting its commitments under the 2011 ROK-Pacific Island countries Ministerial Joint Statement, the Republic of Korea reinforced its intent to reach the USD$1 million annual allocation in the next funding cycle of 2014-16.