Page 5 - Islands Business February 2023

Managing Director / Publisher A NOTE FROM THE EDITOR
Netani Rika
There’s a lot to be said for having long memories, good archives and experience on
Managing Editor
Samantha Magick your team, or what corporations call ‘institutional memory’.
This comes through strongly in two articles in this issue.
The first is Nic Maclellan’s interview with U.S. Congressman Ed Case, and his question,
‘Can Washington fund its Pacific pledges?’
While Nic canvasses recent U.S. re-engagement in the region, he also provides the
Designer
longer term context borne of years of reporting on regional geopolitics.
Dick Lee
A knowledge of context and history also enriches Netani Rika’s coverage of the
Contributors recent visit of West Papua’s Benny Wenda to Fiji, where he explains why West Papuan
independence has been such a fraught issue for Pacific Island leaders within the
Nic Maclellan
Melanesian Spearhead Group and Pacific Islands Forum, and how these talks are likely
Rory Medcalf
to develop.
Kite Pareti
Netani Rika The issue also includes updates on stories we have been following for a shorter time,
Rowena Singh but with the same enthusiasm; the ruptures and reunification at the Pacific Islands
Kaliopate Tavola Forum, and the controversies over the leadership and funding of the University of the
South Pacific.
While Kiribati has now rejoined the Forum, we wonder at what cost. The context
in which the recent Pacific Island Leaders special retreat was held meant there was
no time, and perhaps little inclination, to discuss the merits of the next Secretary-
General, former Nauru President Baron Waqa.
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Front Page Pte Limited Waqa is a controversial figure because of his record on legal process and separation
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licenses on Nauru.
Emails The politicisation of this appointment, and now potentially that of the Deputy
Editorial: editor@islandsbusiness.com Secretary Generals, as well as addition of a new regional office (Oceans Commissioner
Subscriptions: subs@islandsbusiness.com in Palau) and potential subregional PIF presences, comes at a time when leaders had
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committed to a review of the regional architecture (i.e., regional organisations and
their mandates), and calls for closer coordination and efficiencies.
Meanwhile at USP, now that the jubilation over Vice Chancellor Pal’s (brief) return to
Fiji has subsided and Fiji’s government has made its first grant payment in some years,
Printing:
PrintHouse, Suva, Fiji. students and faculty will want to know what plans are afoot to rebuild the university’s
reputation so it is once again the region’s pre-eminent academic institution. We will
be watching that with interest as well.

February 2022 FJD $8
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