Author: Virginia Horscroft

Fiji may not have been invited to this week’s Pacific Islands Forum Meeting in Cairns, but its presence will be felt nonetheless.

Regional leaders expelled Fiji from the Forum back in May, because they were not persuaded that Commodore Bainimarama planned to restore democratic rule in the near future. Far from getting Fiji off the agenda, its expulsion has intensified the dilemma facing Forum members – as recent public displays of their differing opinions on the treatment of Fiji demonstrate.

Australia’s political leaders are anxious to ensure that the issue of Fiji does not overshadow this week’s meeting in Cairns. Instead, Australia’s foreign minister, Stephen Smith, is insisting that leaders throughout the region are keen to focus on the ‘real work at hand’.

Rightly so. The Pacific Islands are now facing unprecedented challenges to their economic development, thanks to the global financial crisis and climate change.

For these challenges to be tackled effectively, the Forum must agree on regional responses to them. The important role that Fiji has to play in those responses is inescapable.

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Guest Author: Virginia Horscroft

While our attention is focused on the political crisis in Fiji, a development that could prove critical to the Pacific is passing almost unremarked.

This week will reveal whether members of the Pacific Islands Forum are able to cut a deal to negotiate a regional trade agreement.

If they manage that, it will be a major achievement for regional engagement – a welcome positive in a year that has so far not been a good one for the Pacific.

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