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Forum Puts On Hold Wallis And Futuna Bid For Associate Membership

Friday: August 22, 2008

(Oceania Flash)

A request put to the Forum by the French Pacific territory of Wallis and Futuna has been put on hold to be considered again in two years, the Pacific Island Forum (PIF) Leaders said yesterday in their final communiqué marking the end of their annual summit on Niue.

Wallis and Futuna, which was granted observer status within the Forum two years ago, had placed the request earlier this year to the effect of upgrading its status within the Forum to that of associate member.

The associate member status was granted to French Polynesia and New Caledonia (the other two French Pacific countries and territories) three years ago. Last month, a Forum mission travelled to Wallis and Futuna to assess the merits of such bid.

In their final communiqué, the PIF leaders "expressed support for Wallis and Futuna’s commitment to enhanced regional engagement, noted that at present the territory’s governance arrangements are still evolving toward a point where it can determine its own policy on regional issues, encouraged continued work to strengthen Wallis and Futuna’s participation in the Forum as an observer, and agreed to take the question of its associate membership under review for the present, with consideration of the application again in two years’ time."

There were several French delegations represented at this week's 39th Pacific Islands Forum Leaders summit in Niue.

The French metropolitan government sent a high-powered delegation from Paris.
The delegation was led by Nicolas Desforges, the Permanent Secretary to the French government's assistant minister for Overseas, Yves Jégo. The French delegation also included Paris-based French Ambassador to the Pacific, Patrick Roussel who is also in charge of the so-called "Pacific Fund" that is dedicated to promoting better integration of the French territories in the Pacific region.

Other members of the Paris included officials from the French Foreign Affairs Ministry's Pacific section and Wellington-based French Ambassador Michel Legras.

New Caledonia's delegation was led by Harold Martin, the French Pacific territory's president of the local government. Martin was accompanied by his vice-president, Déwé Gorodey, and two members of his cabinet, Maurice Ponga [youth and sports] and Pierre Ngaiohni [vocational training].

French Polynesia's President Gaston Tong Sang also took part in the regional summit and has now returned to Tahiti.

French relations with the Pacific Islands Forum have intensified over the past two years and the recent "France-Oceania" summit held in Paris in June 2006 under the chairmanship of then French President Jacques Chirac.

The third "France-Oceania" summit is scheduled to take place sometime in August-September 2009, in Nouméa, New Caledonia, probably in the presence of France's President Nicolas Sarkozy.

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