Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2007-01-31-Speech-3-240"
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"en.20070131.25.3-240"2
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".
Mr President, I welcome the report on EU relations with the Pacific Islands, and I especially want to congratulate the rapporteur, Mr Deva, on his results.
When my colleague, Commissioner Michel, took the initiative to have the first ever EU strategy for our relations with the Pacific ACP States prepared, he did so because these countries are becoming increasingly important and because they are facing difficult challenges. We can benefit from closer contacts with the Pacific, as the region is of global significance and we can contribute significantly to its development. Parliament’s report clearly reflects this and it points out important avenues forward.
These countries are mostly remote, relatively poor, small and have become independent fairly recently. Most have strong population growth. They have a difficult balancing act to perform between tradition and the pressures of modernity. Globalisation is an opportunity for them, but also carries risks for their cultural heritage.
In many countries in the Pacific, democracy has difficult growth conditions and, at the same time, the Pacific needs high-quality governance to move forward. For this reason, your commitment to their democracies, international exposure and contacts is very important.
They have significant natural resources, such as oil, gas, fish and tropical wood, as well as fantastic biodiversity. The Pacific Ocean is so important that it must be considered as a global public good. This gives the Pacific Island countries opportunities on the international scene and prospects for the future. However, climate change threatens many of the islands, even whole countries.
The overseas countries and territories serve as bridges between Europe and the Pacific and between our cultures. Where the Pacific countries have needs and we have comparative advantages, there we propose to assist. We have identified the ‘blue-green’ theme as the cornerstone of the focus on the sustainable management of the region’s natural resources. In addition, we have committed ourselves to a strengthened political relationship, more focused development action and more efficient aid delivery.
In our communication we foresaw that the Pacific countries would face more problems in the future if a number of significant trends were not reversed. Last year alone there were serious security problems and political crises in the Solomon Islands, Timor-Leste, Tonga and Fiji. The problems are so difficult and severe than many of the Pacific ACP countries cannot handle them alone. For this reason we are working with our Australian and New Zealand friends and, as Mr Deva said, with stable conditions we can develop tourism further in the Pacific.
Parliament has, of course, noticed the Council conclusions regarding the Pacific strategy, which confirmed that the EU will strengthen its partnership with this region. A number of Member States follow the Pacific closely. The EU has an important role to play in the Pacific. Your report demonstrates this very clearly and we count on your continued support and solidarity for these really extraordinary countries."@en1
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