APIA – The Office of the Chief Trade Advisor says concerns about the Pacer Plus trade agreement being unbalanced are unfounded and inaccurate.

Based in Port Vila, Vanuatu, the Office of the Chief Trade Adviser (OCTA) provides independent advice and support to Pacific Island Countries in the negotiations of PACER Plus with Australia and New Zealand.

The latest talks on the free trade agreement concluded Friday in Samoa but has faced calls from the Pacific Network on Globalisation that they be suspended and the negotiation texts published.

The Chief Trade Advisor to the Pacific, Dr Edwini Kessie, told Radio New Zealand’s Pacific Beat the NGO’s hardline approach does not help the discussion on developing an effective platform for free-trade in the region.

Dr Kessie says a meeting to engage with NGOs and allow them to voice their concerns about the agreement is being planned for later in the year.

“We welcome views from a broad spectrum. We have done our best to engage the NGOs. But I think they also need to be very constructive.

“I’ve read some of the reports they think they are saying the agreement is unbalanced. That Australia and New Zealand would be making promises whereas the countries would undertake legal requirements, and there’s no basis for that statement.

“Because Australia and New Zealand would also be undertaking binding legal commitments even in the area of tariffs. So the argument that the agreement is unbalanced is without any basis, so I think the NGOs have to be more constructive.

“If they do have genuine concerns obviously we would like to address them but some of them, I think they are just headline grabbing news.

PACIFIC BEAT: One of the other things they are saying is that it is possible for individual Pacific countries to unilaterally implement the things that come under PACER Plus and therefore just as beneficial for countries to undertake things by themselves rather than having a regional agreement.

“I would strongly disagree with that view, the reason why, you know for many Pacific island countries, and other developing countries, there is the view of the international investor community tends to have the view that we basically constantly reverse our policies. And as such there isn’t investor confidence in our economies.

“Now having an agreement such as Pacer Plus or any other agreement would give confidence to investors that those commitments would not unilaterally change.

“And I think the idea that countries can implement trade agreements autonomously, it is true they can do that.

“But the degree of perception would be different amongst investors because they would know that at any time countries can always reverse their decisions – but if it is part of a trade agreement which has legally binding commitments, it will stick. So that is the advantage of having an agreement such as Pacer Plus.

PACIFIC BEAT: If and when this agreement is finally signed and completed, what can Pacific islanders – the public, businesses, the private sector – expect to see as real changes on the ground in their countries?

“I think I should make it quite clear that the conclusion of the agreement would not automatically bring benefits,” Dr Kessie answered.

“At the end of the day for Pacer Plus to have any positive impact in the countries the countries would have to adopt the right policies from the framework.

“The idea that Pacer Plus would automatically benefit the Pacific island countries, I do not subscribe to that view.

“What it offers countries is a platform, an environment within which they can actually implement policies with the assistance of Australia and New Zealand for trade and investment to flourish.

“So I think with Pacer Plus it would provide them with a platform to expand trade and then attract investment and if they do that then I believe that Pacer Plus would really assist these countries going forward.”

OCTA assists its members to analyse trade policy issues, develop negotiating strategies, facilitate the development and coordination of negotiating positions and advance their positions in trade negotiation meetings.

Members of OCTA are Cook Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, Kiribati, Nauru, Niue, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Fiji, Republic of Marshall Islands, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Tuvalu and Vanuatu.