A senior Pacific economist believes Pacific leaders should “forcefully” make the point that Pacific Island countries are not looked at as an afterthought.
Pacific island countries may be small and remote but are important players for global trade and security.
Kishti Sen, the senior Pacific economist for the ANZ Group based in Sydney, said for too long, the rest of the world had focused or guided Pacific countries on the virtues of good governance but ignored their plight of better standards of living.
“We need better infrastructure – one that is resilient to climate events, cheaper and secure connectivity to the rest of the world, expertise and know how to upscale agriculture so it can generate better incomes for farmers, we need lower utilities costs through access to modern infrastructure and we need better access to markets for our products,” Mr Sen said.
“Given a stable, secure and prosperous Pacific region is desired by world leaders, it is time our larger and more affluent trading partners to accelerate development, so we have a ‘win-win’ situation.
“Pacific governments have limited wiggle room to borrow more to do all of the heavy lifting by themselves.
Pacific leaders and ministers are meeting in Honolulu, Hawai’i for the US-Pacific investment summit themed ‘The Pacific Agenda: Investment, Security and Shared Prosperity’ and it advances the region’s collective economic priorities and strengthening strategic partnerships with the United States.
Mr Sen said Pacific Island leaders should also make it easier for investors to invest in their countries.
He said there were many opportunities for investment, and investors – both local and foreign, wanted to capture those opportunities.
However, he added, Pacific island countries seemed to put a lot of roadblocks in front of them for their ideas to succeed and projects to get off the ground.
“There has to be a better relationship with the investors and the regulators.
“The bureaucracy can be tiresome. Securing land for development can drag on for years.
“Make the Pacific a compelling destination for investment by coming up with a seamless and shorter cycle for all regulatory approvals. Because if you can’t attract private capital, you get stuck in a very low gear of progress. Governments have limited resources and competing priorities,” Mr Sen said.
