Foreign Minister Winston Peters has fired warning shots at the Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat during his first bilateral trip to Fiji.
The regional body, which represents 18 pacific nations including New Zealand and Australia, has struggled with a series of crises including Micronesian countries threatening to leave it, Kiribati quitting and only coming back after a forgiveness ceremony and Nauru walking out of the recent annual meeting in Rarotonga to name a few.
Peters said his priority is to help bring unity to the region to ensure the Pacific Islands Forum (PIF) works cohesively together so there isn’t the “friction and disparity that arose in recent times”. He added there’s a lot of things that “we need to do as experienced politicians to get far more out of this arrangement”.
Peters wants to see six month performance checks on the work the PIF does to ensure that what Pacific leaders have asked for is actually happening.
At a joint media conference when 1News asked PIF Secretary General Henry Puna about the many issues during his tenure and how he can talk about unity when it’s clearly lacking, he replied he feels he is being blamed for it.
When it was pointed out that he is the secretary general he said he doesn’t want, “to live in the past and I’m sure the leaders don’t want to live in the past we’ve moved on from that”.
Peters was gifted a fish hook carving by Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka. (Source: 1News)
Puna admitted due process wasn’t met when his incoming replacement Baron Waqa was controversially appointed.
Waqa, who takes over the PIF in June, is tied up in a corruption case being investigated by the Australian Federal Police over sacking judges while he was president and also restricting freedom of the press.
Peters is respected in the region by leaders and was greeted as “a friend of the Pacific, a person of the Pacific” by Fijian Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka at their bilateral meeting.
Rabuka said the appointment of Peters as New Zealand’s foreign minister is good for the Pacific.
It’s this kind of reputation which will count with island leaders as they contemplate the changing landscape of the region including security threats.
It’s no surprise Peters picked Fiji as his first bilateral visit as it is the economic, transportation and communication hub of the Pacific as well as host to regional organisations such as the PIF.
Canterbury University’s Pro-Vice Chancellor for the Pacific Professor Steven Ratuva told 1News Fiji is important to New Zealand – and it’s also our biggest trading partner in the region.
“For New Zealand to have more leverage in the Pacific engaging closely with Fiji is important, so Peters would have recognised this,” he said. He added that Pacific countries are a bit cautious of the new coalition Government “given its rather regressive policies on climate change” and it’s going to have to step up to the expectations of PIF countries.
That expectation is also coming from the Republic of Fiji’s Military Forces.
Lt Col Eroni Duaibe said Peters is a very significant figure in the Pacific as he was New Zealand’s foreign minister when Fiji’s military commander Frank Bainimarama launched a coup in 2006. He said at the time Peters was “very vocal” about it.
“We are extending the hand of friendship to Winston Peters in the hope that things will get better, our relationship will be more profound specifically in the defence sector”.
In a region where personal face to face interaction is crucial, Peters whirlwind trip to Fiji has been a valuable one ensuring New Zealand’s voice is heard at the regional table.
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