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PACER

PACER-Plus renders weak protections for Pacific businesses
8-Dec-2015 Matangi Tonga
PACER-Plus is shaping up as an agreement that won’t fit into the Pacific reality, will have weak protections for Pacific businesses and undermines the ability of governments to enact policies to support and nurture vital Pacific industries.
PACER Plus bad for business
7-Dec-2015 PANG
New brief says Regional trade agreement bad for business.
Worried about the TPP? Australia is pushing another bad deal
18-Nov-2015 New Matilda
Despite receiving little attention in Australia, efforts to establish a new regional trade agreement are raising eyebrows among Pacific neighbours
Fiji will not change its stance
15-Oct-2015 Fiji Sun
Agreement must be development-centered
PACER re-entry was vital
20-Sep-2015
While Fiji has rejoined the Pacific agreement on closer economic relations (PACER) Plus negotiations after a lapse of more than five years, the road to reaching a mutual agreement has not been easy.
Pacific Civil Society Swings Out Against Free Trade Agreement
4-Jun-2015
Fourteen Pacific Island Forum countries are currently locked in negotiations with their two largest economic neighbours, Australia and New Zealand, to forge a new regional free trade agreement called ‘PACER Plus’, which supporters believe will boost economic growth in the region.
PACER-plus Trade in Services text (draft of April 2015)
27-Apr-2015 Scribd
This is the leaked Draft Trade in Services text from the PACER Plus Intersessional meeting in Port Vila, 31 March - 02 April 2015.
PACER-plus chapter on Investment draft text (November 2013)
23-Apr-2015 PINA
This is the leaked draft chapter on Investment text from the PACER Plus Intersessional meeting in Auckland, 26-28 November 2013.
Pacific Network on Globalisation launches anti-PACER-Plus campaign
22-Apr-2015 PNG Post-Courier
The Pacific Network on Globalisation have launched their campaign against the regional free trade agreement, known as PACER-Plus.
Pacific Civil Society calls for suspension of trade talks
12-Dec-2014 PANG
Pacific civil society organisations, including gender groups, environmental groups and regional non-government groups have called for the immediate suspension of the regional trade negotiations, known as PACER-Plus, and the release of the secret texts under negotiations.
Australian aid and trade watchdogs denounce Pacific Free Trade Agreement
23-Jul-2014 Aidwatch
Independent Australian organisations, the Australian Fair Trade and Investment Network and AID/WATCH, have voiced serious concerns about the PACER-Plus Free Trade Agreement currently being negotiated between Australia, New Zealand and Pacific Island Countries.
Regional trade agreement more lopsided against Pacific
4-Jul-2013 Scoop
In the middle of July, Pacific Island Trade Ministers will meet in Samoa with their Australian and New Zealand counterparts to discuss whether or not to expand the negotiations of PACER-Plus to include services and investment, reports the Pacific Network on Globalisation.
Rejecting free trade requires new forms of regionalism
13-Jun-2013 Islands Business
Papua New Guinea’s trade Minister, Richard Maru, recently set a cat amongst the pigeons by saying that PNG was not interested in the regional trade negotiations known as PACER-Plus. “We can’t export our taro there, they won’t accept our greens...There’s nothing to be gained from a trade agreement at the moment. ‘We cannot justify the huge amount of resources we expend on such negotiations. They are a complete waste of time.”
Call to accelerate regional integration
28-Jul-2012
The Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat secretary general, Tuiloma Neroni Slade wants the region to intensify and accelerate its efforts towards regional integration.
Pacific’s Chief Trade Advisor resigns with a warning for Australia
2-Sep-2011 Radio Australia
The Pacific’s Chief Trade Advisor has resigned with a warning that unless Australia and New Zealand act soon to put something of value on the table for the PACER plus trade negotiations, the talks risk falling over.
A-G questions agreement merits
1-Jul-2011
Attorney-General Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum has questioned the merits of trade agreements that serve to benefit the economically powerful more than developing economies.
PACER Plus ineffective without Fiji: AG
1-Jul-2011
Any regional economic agreement that excludes Fiji will be an ineffective instrument for trade and development says Trade Minister Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum.
No strings needed on funding for OCTA - NGOs
25-May-2011 ABC Radio Australia
A number of Australian non government organisation say they are concerned that Australia and New Zealand want to limit the activities of the Pacific-led trade advisory body, the Office of Chief Trade Adviser — also known as OCTA.
No rush: Rugebatu warns against rushing into PACER Plus
19-Oct-2010 Solomon Star
The Solomon Islands’ biggest umbrella body for community service organisations on Saturday warned against rushing into PACER-Plus – a free trade agreement proposed between Pacific Island countries, Australia and New Zealand.
PACER-Plus: Why we need to get it right
13-Sep-2010 Islands Business
“PACER-Plus is the most important economic negotiation that Forum Islands nations will undertake this decade, so you need to get it right.” So says Dr Chris Noonan, Chief Trade Advisor to Forum Islands Countries for the PACER-Plus free trade negotiations.