09 September 2011

Joint statement 19th Taiwan/Republic of China-Forum Countries Dialogue

NINETEENTH TAIWAN/REPUBLIC OF CHINA

—FORUM COUNTRIES DIALOGUE

Auckland, New Zealand
9 September 2011

JOINT STATEMENT

The Nineteenth Taiwan/Republic of China—Forum Countries Dialogue was held at the Rendezvous Hotel, Auckland, New Zealand. The Taiwan/Republic of China delegation was led by H.E. Ssu-tsun Shen, Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs. The Forum Island Countries were represented by Hon. Danny Philip, Prime Minister of Solomon Islands; H.E Johnson Toribiong, President of the Republic of Palau; H.E. Marcus Stephen, President of the Republic of Nauru; Hon Apisai Ielemia, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Tuvalu; Hon John M. Silk, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of the Marshall Islands and Hon Natan Teewe, Minister of Finance and Economic Development of Kiribati. The Prime Minister of Solomon Islands was the Moderator of the Dialogue.
2. Representatives of the Pacific Islands Forum Fisheries Agency (FFA), Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat (PIFS), Pacific Power Association (PPA); Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme (SPREP); Pacific Islands Development Programme, (PIDP); South Pacific Tourism Organisation (SPTO) and the University of the South Pacific were also in attendance as Observers.
3. In his opening remarks, the Moderator welcomed the Head of the Taiwan/Republic of China Delegation and distinguished members to the 19th Taiwan/Republic of China-Forum Countries Dialogue. The Moderator commended the hospitality and acknowledged the excellent meeting arrangements provided by the people and Government of New Zealand.
4. The Moderator reaffirmed the Governments of Kiribati, Nauru, Palau, Republic of Marshall Islands, Solomon Islands and Tuvalu’s continued commitment to maintaining diplomatic relations with Taiwan/Republic of China. He also acknowledged the valuable regional assistance provided by Taiwan/Republic of China through the annual contribution to CROP and the Taiwan/Republic of China-PIF scholarship scheme.
5. In light of the priority and emerging issues identified at the 42nd Forum Leaders and at the 20th SIS Leaders Meeting, the Moderator called on the Government of Taiwan/Republic of China to align their assistance to these key areas which included sustainable financing for climate change, strengthening development cooperation, renewable energy, labour mobility, renewable energy and energy efficiency, gender equality and people living with disabilities.
6. The Vice Minister Shen welcomed the presence of the Leaders of the Forum Island Countries and noted that it reflected a positive response to Taiwan/Republic of China’s active engagement with Members. The Vice Minister emphasised the Dialogue is a key channel to foster cooperation with Forum countries. Ongoing support from Taiwan/Republic of China has seen significant assistance and progress in key areas of development including: health and medical care, vocational training, fisheries, food security, clean energy and people exchange. The Pacific Plan remains the basis for Taiwan/Republic of China’s development assistance to the region, including continued support to the Forum’s Compact which saw funding assistance provided to the Secretariat to support Compact implementation efforts in 2011.
7. Leaders acknowledged the continued support of the government of Taiwan/Republic of China particularly in promoting the “green revolution” which incorporates efforts to address impacts of climate change and also the threat of non communicable diseases to people’s of the Pacific.
8. The meeting also discussed the outcomes of reports on Taiwan/Republic of China’s assistance to the region which included: the Regional Development Assistance; and the Taiwan/ROC-Pacific Islands Forum Scholarship Scheme.

9. Taiwan/Republic of China announced that USD500,000 would be made available to support eight regional organisations in 2012. The list of approved CROP projects for 2011/2012 is attached as Annex I. In support of the Taiwan/ROC-PIF Scholarship Scheme, Taiwan/Republic of China confirmed their continued support to provide funding assistance to the scholarship scheme for 2012.
10. Forum countries present, expressed their overwhelming gratitude to Taiwan/Republic of China for their continued support of the scholarship scheme and assistance to the region. Whilst noting the relevance of approved projects the meeting agreed that greater support should be allocated to projects that directly benefit the Smaller Island States. The delegates also welcomed the full funding allocation to CROP projects this year noting that this would facilitate effective project implementation.
11. In conclusion, the meeting expressed appreciation to the Honourable Danny Phillip, Prime Minister of Solomon Islands for his guidance of the Dialogue. The Moderator also thanked the members of the panel for their cordial and productive exchanges and the Vice Minister Shen and his delegation for their attendance and participation.

Auckland, New Zealand
9 September 2011

TAIWAN/REPUBLIC OF CHINA APPROVED PROJECTS REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT ASSISTANCE 2011/2012
CROP PROJECT SUBMISSIONS TO TAIWAN/ROC
REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT ASSISTANCE 2011/2012

FIJI SCHOOL OF MEDICINE (FSMed)
PROJECT TITLE SUMMARY BUDGET USD
1 Survey of Mental Illness and Substance Abuse in the Pacific Islands: A Pilot Study in Fiji The project aims to investigate the prevalence of mental illness and substance use disorders among the Pacific islanders, with Fiji as a study population. Psychosocial risks will be examined, and it could serve as a basic data for the planning and promotion of mental health service in the region. $50,000
FSMed SUB-TOTAL $50,000
PACIFIC ISLANDS FORUM FISHERIES AGENCY (FFA)
PROJECT TITLE SUMMARY BUDGET USD
1 FFA's Official Vehicle Purpose of this proposal is to seek funding cover the replacement of a FFA official vehicle for the Director General (due for replacement in 2012) $40,000
FFA SUB-TOTAL $40,000
PACIFIC ISLANDS FORUM SECRETARIAT (PIFS)
PROJECT TITLE SUMMARY BUDGET USD
2 Smaller Island States Development Fund The purpose of this project is to facilitate the provision of a quick and flexible response to crucial components of the SIS development programmes which are not covered by other aid programmes; to support the policy and coordination role of the Secretariat; and to complement the Secretariat's work in development policies. $70,000
3 Smaller Island States Work Programme 2011/2012 The purpose of this project is to; (i)progress the implementation of the Pacific Plan initiatives through the execution of specific work programmes identified as high priority areas by the Smaller Island States, (ii) encourage the adoption of regional or sub-regional approaches where feasible in the delivery of essential public goods and services to the SIS as a means of addressing the challenges of globalisation and the diseconomies of scale; to address the key development needs of SIS through capacity building initiatives; and to enable servicing of the SIS Officials and SIS Leaders’ Meetings. $50,000
4 Strategic Partnerships and Coordination Programme To support work of the SPCP in improving policy coordination and regular dialogue between Forum members and development partners. $20,000
PIFS SUB TOTAL $140,000
PACIFIC POWER ASSOCIATION (PPA)
PROJECT TITLE SUMMARY BUDGET USD
1 Technical staffing support to the Pacific
Power Association Secretariat The objective of the expert would be to provide expert technical services to the Utility Members of the PPA. $50,000
PPA SUB-TOTAL $50,000
PACIFIC AVIATION SAFETY OFFICE (PASO)
PROJECT TITLE SUMMARY BUDGET USD
1 Capacity building in regional regulatory safety oversight of South Pacific Airports The project purpose is to develop a capacity within the regionally operated and controlled Pacific Aviation Safety Office to include the vital functions of Air Traffic Service and airport and aerodrome inspection through the recruitment of a single individual. This role will fill an obvious gap within aviation regulatory oversight in the region and will serve to develop and maintain high levels of safety in these critical areas $50,000
PASO SUB-TOTAL $50,000
SECRETARIAT OF THE PACIFIC REGIONAL ENVIRONMENT PROGRAMME (SPREP)
PROJECT TITLE SUMMARY BUDGET USD
1 Providing assistance to Pacific Island Countries to register their Nationally Appropriate Mitigation Actions under the UN Framework Convention on Climate change. The purpose of this project is SPREP to provide technical assistance to PICs who wish to take up the opportunity to register their voluntary NAMAs. The objectives of this project are:
(i) Raise awareness amongst PICs of what makes up a NAMA, and the benefits and process of registering NAMA’s
(ii) At least 3 PICs are assisted to develop NAMA’s
(iii) At least 3 PICs register their NAMA’s with the UNFCCC Registry $20,000
3 Pacific Emerging Environment Leaders’ Initiative (PEEL) and Inaugural Forum The purpose of the project is to increase involvement of individuals from a wide range of sectors in initiating and leading practical changes that lead to improved environmental management/conservation and sustainable development practices. $10,000
6 Santa Ana Solar PV Electrification Pilot Project Phase II The purpose of this Pilot Project is to install 30 Solar Home Systems (SHS) in (3) villages of Santa Ana as a continuation from the initiative by the Solomon Islands Government and SPREP (Phase I), $30,000
7 Workshop to facilitate learning on loss and damage associated with slow onset climate change impacts in the Pacific To meet the needs identified by Pacific Countries, this project aims to provide a platform for Pacific Island climate and insurance experts to pool together their knowledge, build their capacity on this issue, and also develop the Pacific input into an international programme on loss and damage. $10,000
SPREP SUB-TOTAL $70,000
SOUTH PACIFIC BOARD FOR EDUCATIONAL ASSSESSMENT (SPC)
PROJECT TITLE SUMMARY BUDGET USD
1 Development of outcomes based reporting of student achievement in the South Pacific Form Seven Certificate (SPFSC). The purpose of this project is to improve the reporting mechanism for students in PFI countries who enroll for SPFSC courses and to align prescription information, examination items and reporting descriptors thus facilitating a more detailed and more useful statement of achievement on student performance $50,000
SOPAC SUB-TOTAL $50,000
UNIVERSITY OF THE SOUTH PACIFIC (USP)
PROJECT TITLE SUMMARY BUDGET USD
1 Farm to Table - Celebrating local produce and cuisine Project objectives include to (i) develop linkages between tourism agriculture, thus providing benefits to farmers and local communities in predominately poor rural areas (ii) conduct a feasibility study to identify supply, demand, marketing, transport and intermediary factors (iii) develop an integrated model for import substitution and the promotion of the "farm to table" concept within tourism. 30,000
2 Installation of electronic library security systems at three USP Campus libraries Project objectives include to (i) protect the resources of the libraries from illegal removal and to ensure the integrity of the collection at all times (iii) reduce the loss of materials from the collection due to lack of security - personnel or systems (iv) assist the library staff at the campus libraries where staff numbers are low and security of the collection cannot be given the attention it requires 20,000
USP SUB-TOTAL $50,000
GRAND TOTAL $500,000

© Scoop Media