Pacific nations open new trade office

Trade ministers from the Pacific region have confirmed a trade office will be
established in Vanuatu as part of a new economic agreement.
The decision was made on the final day of a two-day forum about a new trade and
economic agreement, known as PACER Plus, in Brisbane on Saturday.
Australian Trade Minister Simon Crean joined representatives from the Cook Islands,
the Federated States of Micronesia, Kiribati, Nauru, New Zealand, Niue, Palau, Papua
New Guinea, the Republic of the Marshall Islands, Samoa, the Solomon Islands, Tonga,
Tuvalu and Vanuatu at the talks.
Mr Crean said an office of chief trade adviser would be based in Port Vila, Vanuatu,
to improve price negotiations among Pacific island nations.
Australia and New Zealand are largely funding the office.
Australia is expected to contribute $A500,000 per annum and New Zealand $A532,000
per annum.
Mr Crean said it was hoped the office of chief trade adviser would be set up by the
end of the year.
"There are big developments in PNG - the gas pipeline. And in the Solomon Islands
(there is) the gold project and big infrastructures are taking place in Samoa - a
global automotive supply chain," Mr Crean told reporters in Brisbane on Saturday.
"We have critical mass and huge potential within the region.
"The challenge is to make it work more effectively and efficiently and to secure the
economic future of the countries in the region."
The Fiji military regime has been excluded from the talks, until it returns the
country to democracy and the rule of law, but has been kept informed by a
representative at the meeting.
Mr Crean said Fiji's inclusion was totally in Fiji's hands.
"If they are prepared to accept the requirements that all Pacific island leaders
made of them to chart the path to the return to democracy then they can come back
in," Mr Crean said.
"Fiji, by inaction on that front, has excluded itself."