I am pleased to announce that, as part of its response to the Global Economic Crisis, the Government of Vanuatu will host a high level Pacific Conference on The Human Face of the Global Economic Crisis in the Pacific to be held in Port Vila, February 10-12th 2010. The ADB, PIFS, SPC and USP have joined our Government and the United Nations in organizing this important meeting.
The Conference will consider how the current crisis affects the people of our countries, not only economically, but more importantly, socially, at community, national and regional levels. In addition, it will bring challenges faced by similar developing countries to our attention, to inform how we might frame and contextualize a wide range of policy choices in labour, education, health, social protection and legislature. The Conference will then consider how these policy choices can be incorporated into our existing national development strategies, to mitigate the crisis through sustainable recovery action plans. Such discussion could lead to strengthening of our national capacities to respond to crises, including through social protection as well as other measures.
While at this FEMM we are focusing on the macro economic dimensions of the global economic crisis, it is equally important to reflect on the impact of the crisis on women, men, children, youth and families. I therefore see the conference as a real opportunity to put a human face on the global economic crisis.
Some of the issues that will be deliberated at the Pacific Conference are directly relevant to us, as Ministers of Finance and Planning. The Conference will take account of and build upon our deliberations at this FEMM and will propose concrete outcomes where support from our development partners, including the UN, can assist to improve the lives of our people. There are a number of UN Representatives at this meeting, and I encourage you to speak with them over the next few days, in particular to discuss the priorities of each country. In doing so we can help ensure that the Conference focuses on our priorities and gives the Government’s of our region concrete policy and programme options for dealing with the impact of the Crisis.
I would like to underscore the importance of identifying and monitoring the impact of such crises on vulnerable populations within our countries. I am pleased to note that our fellow ministers responsible for disability issues met here in Rarotonga last week to discuss how the concerns of people with disabilities can be effectively included in our national planning and budgetary processes.
In good and in bad times, effective and consistent real-time monitoring enhances our understanding and reduces uncertainty as to how and when to act. Data on social impacts will complement macro-economic data currently monitored with assistance from the Asian Development Bank. Monitoring social expenditures (inclusive of health, education, and welfare) will be vital.
I thus acknowledge the support we and several other Member States have been offered by the United Nations and other development partners in the establishment of social impact monitoring. This is in line with the Global Impact and Vulnerability Alert System set up by the UN and designed to enable policy makers to deal with crises effectively and promptly. And in order to ensure sustainability and alignment with our region’s information and statistical systems, I would like this particular need to be considered when developing the proposal for improved statistics in the Pacific as outlined in the paper on the benchmarking study.
I would also like to note some important analysis and policy guidance that has been provided in the Pacific, particularly by the Asian Development Bank, the United Nations, the Pacific Island Forum Secretariat, various non-government organizations, and Australia’s and New Zealand’s governments.
The February 2010 conference will be an opportunity to bring these many levels of analysis, monitoring and discussion to a regional platform and allow us as a collective to agree upon a forward-looking action agenda to protect our region from the economic and social impacts of the current global economic downturn and future crises.
The conference will take place in conjunction with two other meetings to be held in Port Vila just days prior to the Pacific conference. The International Labour Organisation's Tripartite High Level Meeting on Decent Work for Sustainable Development in the Pacific will focus on the promotion of decent work in the Pacific's recovery from the jobs crisis, which often continues long after the economic crisis has subsided. The Mauritius Strategy for Implementation will be reviewed in a meeting convened by ESCAP on 8-9th Feb 2010. The meeting will review progress, and consider strategies for improving the implementation of MSI priorities, including through the national sustainable development strategies and the like.
I wish to underline the importance of this Pacific Conference. The Government of Vanuatu and host of the meeting, specifically my Prime Minister, raised this Conference with the Forum Leaders at the 2009 Meeting in Cairns. Consequently, the outcome of the Pacific Conference will be considered at the 2010 Forum Leaders Meeting and will be in support of the Cairns Communiqué.
Delivered at the Forum Economic Ministers Meeting, Rarotonga, Cook Islands, 26 - 28 October, 2009
Other Speeches and Statements
Lead Presentation by Dr. Noeleen Heyzer: Impact of the Globa - 12 February 2010
Speech by Hon. Bob McMullan MP, Parliamentary Secretary for - 12 February 2010
Speech by Hon. Edward Natapei, Prime Minister of Vanuatu - 10 February 2010
Keynote Address by Miss Helen Clark - 10 February 2010