Pacific Island Trade Agreement

The CHAPTERs of PACER Plus, which deal with international mobility and labour mobility despite the demands of developing countries, do not allow low-skilled workers access to Australia and New Zealand. Pacific Island states had sought to formalize legislation, with a specified number of workers, successful seasonal work programs that have been put in place in recent years in Australia and New Zealand. The lack of legal certainty with regard to labour mobility could bring an end to regulation in the future. The Economic Partnership Agreement between the EU, Fiji, Papua New Guinea and Samoa opens up merchandise trade with the EU. Ultimately, the agreement provides greater flexibility for LDCs and SPS and RoO, but the overall impact of PACER Plus is expected to be minimal given the low production capacity of regional economies. One of the main tasks of the less developed island economies of the Pacific is to increase the production of sustainable goods and services and to increase the rate of investment, particularly in infrastructure. PACER Plus has a small provision for technical assistance and assistance. The Australian government will provide a total of AUD 19 million to fund the management and implementation of a development and economic cooperation work programme to help the islands benefit more from trade. New Zealand will provide $7 million. Australia is committed to a target of 20% of official Pacific Development Assistance (ODA) for pacific trade aid funding. New Zealand will approve a pacific trade aid funding target of 20% of the total ODA. Another obstacle to trade between the islands and their main developed neighbours has been sanitation and plant health protection (SPS) or animal and plant health. Many island states have not been able to meet the demanding requirements for agriculture or livestock exports.

One separate chapter attempts to establish a more predictable SPS regime. The Peaceful Agreement on Closer Economic Relations (PACER Plus) was launched on 14 June 2017 in Tonga. The trade agreement, which covers goods, services, investments, work, sanitation and plant protection measures, aid and other issues, concludes eight years of negotiations between Australia, New Zealand and eight pacific island states. The three least developed signatories, Kiribati, Solomon Islands and Tuvalu, face a delayed tariff reduction schedule.