Micronesian leaders discuss transport, COVID and the Forum split
By Nic Maclellan
Leaders of five Micronesian countries have moved to strengthen their sub-regional co-ordination at the 20th Micronesian Presidents’ Summit (MPS).
Meeting under the theme “Sustainable Transportation and Trade through the Micronesian Region”, the five presidents issued the Naoero Communiqué covering trade and shipping, climate change, the COVID-19 pandemic, transnational crime and IUU fishing – and the Micronesian bloc’s troubled split with the Pacific Islands Forum.
Nauru President Lionel Rouwen Aingimea hosted the virtual meeting from 30 August to 2 September, alongside fellow presidents Taneti Maamau of Kiribati, David Panuelo of the Federated States of Micronesia (FSM), David Kabua of the Republic of the Marshall Islands (RMI) and Surangel Whipps Jr of Palau.
Underpinning the meeting was an extended discussion about the division in the Pacific Islands Forum, with MPS leaders reaffirming their intention to withdraw in 2022.
At a Forum Leaders Special Retreat on 8 February, former Cook Islands Prime Minister Henry Puna was elected in a close vote as Secretary General of the Pacific Islands Forum, defeating RMI Ambassador Gerald Zackios. The five Micronesian leaders immediately began the process to initiate withdrawal from the regional organisation.
Speaking after this month’s summit, President Aingimea reaffirmed the MPS policy first outlined in the 2020 Mekreos Communiqué (an edict where the five nations first announced their intention to withdraw if their joint candidate for Secretary General was not elected).
“That issue was discussed at length over the three days of the Micronesian Presidents’ Summit,” President Aingimea said. “The position of Micronesia is still the Mekreos Communiqué. We have not changed from that position.”
Since February, there have been apologies from other Forum leaders and attempts to reconcile – a dialogue process acknowledged by President Aingimea.
“There are still ongoing discussions happening,” he noted. “Those discussions have yet to finish and as those discussions go along, I am sure that there will be other issues that will come about that could help – maybe – move things forward. Micronesia is always willing to engage, but again I reiterate that our position is the Mekreos Communiqué and we stand by what we have said.”
Forum dialogue
Under the statute establishing the Forum, it takes a year after formally announcing withdrawal until the decision takes effect. All MPS states have now submitted their notification of withdrawal. FSM was the first on 14 February 2021 and Kiribati the last on 23 July. The Naoero Communiqué states: “Presidents noted that members of the MPS have deposited with the depository their letters of denunciation from the Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat, with the first withdrawal taking effect in February 2022.”
Is there enough time to heal the wounds before February? As the Forum exploded, key leaders began a process of dialogue and reconciliation that is still to bear fruit.
Last March, the Forum created a Political Dialogue Mechanism at leaders’ level as “the avenue to pursue open and frank political exchanges.” This group comprised the Forum Troika of past, present and future chairs (Lionel Aingimea, Kausea Natano and Voreqe Bainimarama), plus PNG Prime Minister James Marape representing the Melanesian Spearhead Group (MSG) and then Samoan Prime Minister Tuilaepa Sailele Malielegaoi on behalf of the Polynesian Leaders Group (PLG).
The first dialogue session with the MPS leaders was held virtually on 26 April. After issuing a formal apology, then Forum Chair Tuvalu Prime Minister Kausea Natano said: “I am touched by and thankful for the way our Micronesian leaders expressed their understanding of regional solidarity, while seeking an amicable way forward to this impasse.”
Immediately after that April meeting, however, Palau President Surangel Whipps Jr said the MPS need more than an apology to return to the Forum.
“I don’t think any of us are coming back to the Forum unless we see change,” he said. “We’ve made that position clear and that continues to be our position, and I think the Troika understands that. So we’ve officially withdrawn and I would assume that no one’s going back unless change happens.”
At the virtual Forum leaders meeting on 6 August, Kausea Natano passed the position of Forum Chair to Fiji Prime Minister Voreqe Bainimarama. Four Micronesian leaders boycotted this online meeting, with only Nauru’s President Aingimea attending as an MPS representative. Bainimarama used his inaugural speech as Chair to promote reconciliation: “To our Micronesian brothers, I offer my deepest apology. We could have handled the situation better, but I remain confident that we will find a way forward together. I hope this meeting provides an avenue for frank dialogue.”
Bainimarama was then invited to address this month’s MPS meeting. Speaking to Radio Australia after the summit, FSM President David Panuelo stressed that the Micronesian leaders now wanted action rather than words.
“We were appreciative that the Prime Minister of Fiji Bainimarama engaged us during that meeting through a very courteous exchange,” Panuelo said. “As current chairman of the Forum, he is proposing that we hold regular high-level talks to continue to discuss those proposed reforms to make the PIF more equitable in representation.”
However Panuelo added: “We know that there are proposed reforms that the Forum is considering, but nothing is taken up in terms of adoption to make those reforms more concrete… The main issue is equitable representation by the sub-region of Micronesia in heading the PIF as the Secretary General.”
Bainimarama will likely continue the dialogue in coming months, on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly opening session, amongst any leaders who attend COP26 in Glasgow, and at the proposed face-to-face Forum meeting to be held in Fiji in January (pandemic permitting). In the meantime, the five Micronesian nations are working hard to reinforce their own sub-regional network, parallel to the Melanesian Spearhead Group and Polynesian Leaders Group.
New Micronesian networks
Recognising “the importance of positioning the Micronesian sub-region at the international level,” the Naoero Communiqué acknowledges work to establish a new MPS Secretariat.
The five Presidents have committed their officials to finalise the legal documentation required to formalise the legal status of the Micronesian Presidents’ Summit and “agreed for the Republic of Nauru to continue in its role as interim Secretariat until such formalities are in place.”
The meeting also discussed the progress of ongoing efforts to get United Nations agencies and members of the Council of Regional Organisations of the Pacific (CROP) to boost their representation and activities in the northern Pacific. These efforts have borne fruit in recent years: the UN has established a Multi-Country Office (MCO) in Pohnpei, alongside the Pacific Community’s SPC Micronesia Regional Office in Kolonia, which serves the US territories and Freely Associated States.
For decades, Micronesian states have faced high transportation costs and unreliable air and shipping services, a problem exacerbated by the closure of borders and disruption of supply chains during the global coronavirus pandemic. In response, this month’s MPS meeting included extensive discussion on trade and transport.
Leaders agreed to open membership of the Micronesian Shipping Commission (MSC) to Nauru and Kiribati, expanding the existing partnership that regulates commercial shipping linking the northern Pacific with Asia and the United States. FSM President Panuelo noted: “Nauru and Kiribati have asked to be part of the MSC, so it becomes a bigger family.”
The five Presidents also agreed “to direct officials to develop initiatives in sub-regional shipping and air services including the development of air services agreements among member countries.”
The summit also discussed the monitoring of vast Exclusive Economic Zones in Micronesia. Australia has already provided new Guardian-class patrol boats to Palau, Nauru and Kiribati under the Pacific Maritime Security Program, with FSM next to receive a vessel in March 2022 and another the following August.
There is growing regional concern over large Chinese fishing fleets in open seas in the northern Pacific, but President Aingimea told Islands Business that other nations were also involved in Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated (IUU) fishing.
“There are lots of Distant Water Fishing Nations that do send boats out into this region to pirate our fish – they turn off their beacons so they can’t be followed and checked,” he said. “We have to tackle IUU fishing in all its ugly forms as a concerted group. We do need a lot more surveillance and we’re grateful for all the work that America has been doing, we’re grateful for all the work Australia and New Zealand has been doing – not just on surveillance but when we have missing sailors or fishermen.”
The MPS leaders agreed “to develop a subregional strategy addressing the issue of transnational crime and maritime security to complement existing national legislations and policies” (see p18 for more on this).
COVID and climate
The MPS meeting also focussed on the COVID pandemic and the COP26 global climate negotiations, to be held in Glasgow in November.
Most MPS countries are COVID-free and are trying to reach herd immunity through vaccination. Nauru’s president said the meeting looked at the challenges of moving from “COVID-free to COVID-protected”, with the need to maintain testing, quarantine and monitoring protocols.
“Because of COVID, transport and movement of people from country to country is a real big issue,” Aingimea said. “The Republic of Palau has got a bubble with Taiwan, and I think they now have a bubble with Guam. We are learning from Palau about how they’ve done their protocols on COVID, what happens when people come to Palau and what processes they have to go through. Palau has taken the lead in the Micronesian countries on how they are doing this with tourism and opening of these bubbles.”
Aingimea also praised the work of the Marshall Islands on the United Nations Human Rights Council, to call for the appointment of a UN Special Rapporteur on Climate Change and Security: “It’s always been an argument of Pacific Island Countries that climate change affects the human rights of Pacific islanders. There is not a human right that isn’t affected by climate change.”
In July, the UNHRC passed a resolution on human rights and climate change, adopted by a vote of 46 in favour, none against and one abstention (Russia). The UN Council emphasised “the urgent importance of continuing to address, as they relate to States’ human rights obligations, the adverse consequences of climate change for all, particularly in developing countries and for the people whose situation is most vulnerable to climate change.”
Aingimea stressed that – regardless of the divisions within the Forum – acting together on climate remains a central concern.
“Every country in the Pacific is suffering from the ravages of climate change,” he said. “So whether we are a member of the PIF or not, whether we are a standalone sub-region, every single danger, every single threat – physical, flora or fauna or economic – that is posed to us is a problem that is being faced by every other Pacific country.”
