Pacific Islands

The 30 participants, all from countries that are Taiwan's diplomatic allies, are receiving training in the areas of automobile maintenance, carpentry and electrical engineering, said Lee Pai-po deputy secretary-general of the Taipei-based International Cooperation and Development Fund (TaiwanICDF).

The programme, which started Sept. 4 and runs until Dec. 22, is aimed at cultivating seed instructors for vocational training in the participating Pacific island countries, namely Kiribati, Nauru, Palau, Tuvalu, the Marshall Islands and Solomon Islands, Lee said at a news briefing.

“Climatologists are now unanimous in predicting that we are heading for a strong to severe El Niño event in the coming months. Some modelling is now suggesting this El Niño could be as severe as the event in 1997/98 which is the worst on record and brought severe drought to PNG and Fiji,” United Nations Resident Coordinator, Osnat Lubrani said.

The Prime Minister John Key says this will take the total aid commitment to the region over the three years to nearly a billion New Zealand dollars.

He made the announcement at the Pacific Islands Forum Leaders summit in Port Moresby.

He says New Zealand is a Pacific nation and it is committed to working with its closest neighbours to develop their economies and build a prosperous and stable region.

Meanwhile, John Key has announced a new broadcasting initiative that will see more New Zealand television content provided to the Pacific, free-of-charge.

Fijian Prime Minister Voreqe Bainimarama says the PIDF has never been stronger and will sign a Suva Declaration, described as a common position on climate change, to take to a global meeting in Paris.

Jenny Hayward-Jones from the Lowy Institute says if the Pacific Islands Forum was to try to do a similar declaration, there could be confusion about which reflected the region.

Hayward-Jones says the timing of the PIDF move, a few days out from the Port Moresby meeting, makes a strong political statement.

On his first official visit to Fiji,  Nakao also called on Attorney General and Finance Minister Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum and Foreign Affairs Minister Ratu Inoke Kubuabola. Discussions focused on ways ADB can further enhance its support for Fiji to meet its development priorities.    

Nakao’s programme also included a visit to the ADB-supported Kinoya wastewater treatment plant near Suva and an official address at the University of the South Pacific (USP), where he discussed potential opportunities and policy priorities for Pacific island countries.

Speaking at a public lecture in Fiji, ADB President Takehiko Nakao says the Pacific Islands are already among the most vulnerable in the world to disasters - as cyclone Pam in Vanuatu earlier this year reminded us.

He said natural disaster cost most Pacific island countries over 2% of Gross Domestic Product each year.  

Nakao said expert on International Panel on Climate Change has reported without policy chnage, we can expect a world that is  4 degrees warmer by the end of the century.

Commonwealth youth ministers are meeting in Samoa next week to discuss the issues and challenges facing the region's youth.

The programme manager Sushil Ram says at 60 percent, the Pacific has the highest youth population of any commonwealth region and engaging young people in development is simply common sense.

Hosting the first regional summit of the NDA government, India was stitching a positive relationship with the Pacific Islands even as the India-Pakistan NSA talks were coming apart. Anil Wadhwa, Secretary East in MEA, told journalists there was widespread support by the Pacific Islands for India's candidature in the UNSC.

New Zealand's National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research says water temperatures, which dictate El Niño's strenght, are already 3-5 degrees above normal with the potential to climb even higher in coming months.

Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, Vanuatu and Tonga are already affected by drought, with hundreds of thousands of farmers in PNG's Highlands region losing crops, prompting a national disaster response.

NIWA Forecaster Chris Brandolino says the current El Niño is projected to last well into the new year.

This will be addressed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Jaipur.

On Thursday, addressing the heads of the Pacific Island nations who are in New Delhi for the summit, President Pranab Mukherjee said: “UNSC reform and expansion will be discussed and concrete proposals are expected to be considered in the forthcoming UNGA session next month. An inter-governmental negotiating text is already on the table, for which India needs their support.”