NZ WORRIES FRICTIONS COULD DERAIL PACIFIC ISLAND

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 WELLINGTON 000815

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

STATE FOR EAP/FO AND EAP/ANP

E.O. 12958: DECL: 10/18/2016
TAGS: PREL PGOV NZ XV XU
SUBJECT: NZ WORRIES FRICTIONS COULD DERAIL PACIFIC ISLAND
FORUM

REF: STATE 171852

Classified By: DCM David J. Keegan,
for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d)


1. (C) Summary: New Zealand is working behind the scenes to
help ensure that frictions over the Solomon Islands and other
regional issues do not derail the October 23-26 Pacific
Island Forum (PIF) meetings. PMs Clark and Howard are
scheduled to discuss their goals for the meeting by telephone
on October 18. NZ officials would like leaders to commit to
streamline PIF architecture within the next few years without
endorsing any specific proposals, and to agree on a format
for future Pacific Forum Dialogue (PFD) meetings. On the
Pacific Plan, NZ would like to see the PIF agree to examine
the potential benefits of integrating regional
transportation, information technology and communications.
New Zealand officials intend to offer a new visa program for
seasonal agricultural workers from the Pacific Islands, which
should complement Australia's plan to finance regional
training centers for skilled labor. End Summary.

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Tensions in the Air
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2. (C) On October 17, DCM and Pol-Econ Couns discussed New
Zealand's goals for the PIF meetings with Deputy Foreign
Secretary Alan Williams and Heather Riddell, Director of the

SIPDIS
Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade's Pacific Division.
Williams said the GNZ is concerned that regional tensions
have the potential to make the PIF meetings complex and
contentious. PM Clark will call PM Howard this Friday to
discuss ways to prevent a dust-up as well as to discuss other
goals for the meetings.


3. (C) Williams said conflicts between the Regional
Assistance Mission to the Solomon Islands (RAMSI) and GOS, as
well as Papua New Guinea's role in helping suspended GOS
Attorney General Moti escape to the Solomons, are both
potential flashpoints that GNZ fears could cause the
Melanesian countries taking an "us vs. them" stance at the
meetings. This could prevent the PIF from endorsing RAMSI's
work and erode the Mission's ability to operate. NZ believes
one possible solution is to have regular consultations
between the Solomons, RAMSI, and the PIF, to "provide a
circuit breaker on Solomons/RAMSI tensions. The Melansian
Spearhead Group went to Canberra recently to discuss this
idea. Williams acknowledged that Australia might be anxious
that the proposal would undermine RAMSI, but this possibility
could be minimized through careful planning. Another
possibility would be to put a PIF representative in Honiara.
Virtually every PIF country has a role in RAMSI, and more
dialogue would put a helpful regional "fingerprint" on the
Mission, said Williams.


4. (C) Riddell and Williams downplayed rumors that the PIF
will vote to replace Forum Secretary General Greg Urwin as an
anti-Australian gesture, although Melanesia may run another
candidate to symbolically "stir the pot." There are no
serious candidates out there, Riddell said. She also said
she does not believe that recent anti-Government remarks by
Fiji's military commander Bainimarama posed an immediate
threat to the PIF or the GOF, although NZ is watching the
situation closely. Bainimarama will be in the Middle East
for the next three weeks, she added. (Yesterday, Foreign
Minister Peters issued a statement strongly condemning the
Commodore's remarks. This morning, PM Clark told a local
radio news program that she took Bainimarama's threats
seriously.)

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NZ Agrees with US on Regional Institutional Reform
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5. (C) Riddell said GNZ agrees with the USG view (reftel)
that streamlining the PIF by consolidating existing
organizations could have legal and financial implications for
non-PIF members. For this reason NZ does not want the PIF to
endorse any specific proposals at next week's meetings. But
streamlining is an idea "long overdue," and GNZ therefore
would like leaders to establish a task force and give it a
fairly short time frame within which to make its report.
Riddell said NZ hopes the work could be done in two to three
years, but she acknowledged this was ambitious.

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PIF Needs to Endorse PFD Restructuring and the Pacific Plan

WELLINGTON 00000815 002 OF 002


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6. (C) Riddell said that the PIF Senior Officials' meeting
she attended had made good progress in suggesting ways to
maximize PFD meetings, but it is now up to the leaders. New
Zealand's goal is for leaders to support the findings of the
PFD review, acknowledging there are some practical issues to
work through. If the PIF and the PFD endorse the broad
proposal, they could then work inter-sessionally on
additional "tweaks," and implement the plan by next year's
meeting. Riddell said GNZ does not believe that a new format
will in itself maximize PIF/partner interaction, but it will
be a good start.


7. (C) Noting the Pacific Plan's goal of regional
integration, Riddell said GNZ will propose the PIF focus on
the potential impact on PIF countries and the region of
integrating three key sectors: information technology and
communications, energy, and transportation. She said that it
was impossible to focus on the 24 goals laid out in the Plan,
which clearly cannot all be priorities.

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Labor Mobility
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8. (C) According to Williams and Riddell, NZ and Australia
both plan to introduce new measures to respond to PIC
leaders' interest in improving conditions for regional labor
mobility. On the day of our meeting, NZ Government Ministers
met to approve a plan to encourage NZ farmers and vintners to
employ Pacific Islanders as short term agricultural workers.
GNZ issues about 90,000 temporary visas annually for seasonal
work, mostly to those already here on working holiday or
tourist visas. Just under 6 percent are issued to Pacific
Islanders. Under the new scheme, if accredited employers can
demonstrate there are no Kiwis available to do the work, the
Government will provide them with the names of eligible
Pacific Islanders. This presumably will be easier for the
farmers than locating workers from around the country.
According to Williams, Australia plans to offer funding for
regional training centers, making it possible for more
skilled Pacific Island workers to migrate to find work
because they have the skills Australian and other foreign
employers seek, not because of nationality preferences.
Williams said that GNZ will implement its program with
deliberation, to avoid potential problems. GNZ also wants to
be careful to be seen as complementing Australia's approach,
rather than as more open to PIC workers than Australia. Both
proposals serve different needs, said Williams, so should
complement rather than compete with each other.


McCormick