BY SAMIE WAIKORI
The Secretary General of Pacific Island Forum (PIF), His Excellency Baron Divavesi Waqa has called for an increase to the EU’s Neighbourhood Development and International Cooperation Instrument (NDICI), if it remains fit for the purpose of the Pacific region.
The Pacific Leader made the call, stressing the insufficient share Pacific has received from the funding programme.
According to NDICI, the EU-NDICI 2021-2027 refers to the Neighbourhood, Development and International Cooperation Instrument – Global Europe, the EU’s primary financing tool for its external actions from 2021 to 2027, with a budget of €79.5 billion.
It supports projects in developing countries and regions to achieve global goals like sustainable development and poverty eradication.
The instrument focuses on promoting good governance, inclusive growth, human development, climate action, and peace, while also strengthening regional cooperation and integration with the EU’s internal market.
The Secretary General said on development financing, it has to be equally candid. The EU’s is valued at seventy-nine and a half billion euros globally for the period 2021 to 2027.
“Yet, of this vast envelope, the Pacific’s share is less than two hundred million euros.
“We appreciate the support already committed: 10 million euros for the Pacific Trade and Sustainable Development programme, and 20 million euros for the second phase of the PEUMP programme,” he said.
The Pacific-European Union (EU) Marine Partnership (PEUMP) programme promotes sustainable management and sound ocean governance through a holistic and multi-sectoral approach contributing to social, economic and environmental development in the Pacific, as well as biodiversity protection and promoting the sustainable use of fisheries and other marine resources.
The PEUMP programme focuses on equitable benefits for all Pacific countries, whilst recognising the diversity of resources, needs and opportunities amongst its 15 Pacific countries of work – the Cook Islands, Fiji, Federated States of Micronesia (FSM), Kiribati, Nauru, Niue, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Republic of the Marshall Islands, Tuvalu, Tonga, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Timor Leste and Vanuatu.
Speaking on the EU-NDICI funding program, Waqa said it is not proportionate to the scale of challenges or commitments made.
“More of our members are joining the IEPA, and the obligations of implementation grow heavier. And if the NDICI is to remain fit-for-purpose for our region, the Pacific envelope will need to expand, he said.
On that note, Waqa urged PIF leaders that as they will be endorsing outcomes before them, they must do so with clarity and resolve.
“Our institutions must be made fit-for-purpose. Our advocacy must remain sharp. Our partnerships must deliver real impact. And our unity must remain unshakable.
“If we succeed, we will reaffirm the Pacific not as a bystander to global change, but as a confident, resilient, and future-ready force shaping the world around us,” he said.
Moreover, the Secretary General emphasized that the earmarked of the post of Assistant Secretary General in the OACPS Secretariat is not just symbolic.
“It is strategic. It places a Pacific voice in Brussels — at the very centre of finance and administration decisions that affect our region.
“Unity behind this nomination will be critical to strengthening our influence,” Waqa said.
