This month, Islands Business was able to attend the Forum Economic Ministers meeting in Vanuatu. You’ll see coverage of some of the big issues discussed at FEMM—climate and resilience financing and supply chain challenges—in these pages.
After two years locked down, perhaps the most important outcome of the gathering was to simply reconnect, although of course there were some anticipated ministerial absences; Kiribati and Marshall Islands due to their membership status, Papua New Guinea and Cook Islands due to elections, Tonga due to legal proceedings, a couple of others due to border shutdowns, and at least one for reasons yet unclear.
But the format, and perhaps these circumstances, meant it was difficult to see tangible regional action or progress in many areas. There was insufficient time given to critical issues, and the engagement with the private sector was more a series of presentations than a deep discussion. Civil society representatives fared a little better; at least there was some discussion on the issues around budget transparency and debt that they raised.
Following an earlier debt conference in April and FEMM now, the Forum Secretariat has been asked to develop a concept note for a ‘sustainable regional mechanism’ on debt and public financial management. But in Port Vila, Fiji and Cook Islands representatives amongst others, disputed the notion that the debt they were taking on was unsustainable. Nonetheless, Secretary General Henry Puna told journalists later that “our ministers are keen to look at innovative ways where we can overcome our debt situation, because as we all know, a lot of our member countries are under huge debt distress, and we have got to find ways immediately and urgently in order to rescue them from that situation.”
The Forum’s ‘2050 Strategy for the Blue Pacific Continent’ was also a focus, although at this point, it is less a strategy than a series of commitments on Pacific aspirations and ambitions. The FEMM stressed that any implementation of that strategy needs to be contextualised and respond to national development plans.
The Ministers also heard that none of the 21 Sustainable Development Goals’ 2020 targets on health, education, environment etc.) were met. This was partly attributed to the impact of the pandemic, but a written update noted more fundamental barriers, such as, “lack of ownership and political will to effectively respond to the cross-sectoral nature of sustainable development,” and “lack of alignment at the national level with global and regional commitments.”
Journalists asked FEMM host, Vanuatu’s Finance Minister Johnny Koanapo Rasou, about the relevance of the discussions for Pacific peoples. His response spoke to those goals: “People out in the islands need clean drinking water. People out in the islands are being forced to limit travel to hospitals. They don’t need to see more warships coming into the country…We need funds.”
Geopolitics and political maneuvering means they’re likely to get at least some of those funds. The question is, what strings will be attached?
