PCF Welcomes PACER Plus Ready To Go

Pacific Co-operation Foundation (PCF) Board Chair and Acting Chief Executive Fiso John Fiso welcomes the Government’s announcement that PACER Plus will enter into force in 60 days.

PACER Plus is a trade and development agreement that will lower barriers, provide greater certainty for New Zealand businesses, and raise living standards, create jobs and increase exports in Pacific Island countries.

“PACER Plus ready to go sends a very strong message that the Pacific region and New Zealand are ready to do business,’ Fiso John Fiso said.

“The agreement was made possible due to the Cook Islands being the eighth country to ratify it, after Australia, Kiribati, Niue, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga and New Zealand, who have already ratified it.

“In our current Covid environment and the fiscal pressures this has placed on New Zealand and the Pacific region, we need to all think strategically about how we can work better together for shared solutions.

“Twenty percent of New Zealand’s Aid budget to the Pacific is set aside for “Aid for Trade’, which is about helping developing countries, in particular the least developed, to build the trade capacity and infrastructure needed to benefit from trade opening.

“There are huge opportunities for New Zealanders to invest and or partner with the Pacific region, such as start-up businesses, and contribute towards greater trade opportunities between the Pacific region, and New Zealand.

“Examples of this are greater labour mobility from the Pacific to New Zealand beyond traditional sectors such as RSE workers, to other higher skilled occupations.

“The aged care sector is one sector we could look at given the shortage of aged care workers in New Zealand.

“Conversely, we could look at developing agricultural initiatives from New Zealand into the Pacific region.

“There is currently a huge trade imbalance between the Pacific region and the rest of the world. Addressing this imbalance will be good for the Pacific region, and bring greater resilience to Pacific countries.

“The PCF is committed to brokering the dialogue by having genuine engagement with key stakeholders from the Pacific region to find out what their individual regional priorities are, and how we can mutually benefit and maximise all the opportunities that exist,” Fiso John Fiso said.