INTRODUCTION
 

MAP

  ALMATY
 

BAMAKO
 

BANGKOK
 

CAPE TOWN
 

NADI
 

NAIROBI
 

SAN JOSE
  NATIONAL

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Regional workshop
Constraints, challenges & prospects for commodity based development in the Pacific island countries

Nadi, Fiji Island,
28-30 September 2001

 

Introduction | Programme | Documents | Participants | Letter Recommendations

 

Overview of the Pacific Island Countries: commodity dependency, trade, and development prospects: downloadable here .doc (2039 Kb)   .pdf (139 Kb)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

INTRODUCTION

 Development and growth prospects for Pacific island countries (PICs) are primarily anchored on the prosperity of the commodity sectors-- agriculture, forestry, minerals, marine, and petroleum and natural gases. However, the enclave minerals and petroleum sectors are concentrated in Melanesian countries and Nauru. As commodity- dependent developing countries, they face various challenges, many of which are shared by other developing countries in achieving diversification, retaining competitiveness and comparative advantages in production, and marketing of tropical products. Although many PICs are net exporters of most agricultural products, which includes fisheries and forestry, external trading is highly concentrated in terms of both commodities traded and trading partners. Nearly all PICs depend on one or two significant commodities for over 95% of their merchandise exports, much of which is exported as bulk or raw materials. In addition, tourism services are an important source of foreign exchange earnings for all PICs, but it is the most important money-spinner for Fiji, Samoa, Tonga and Vanuatu.

 Geographical isolation in terms of distance away from major developed market economies aside from Australia and New Zealand, their relatively smallness in terms of land mass, domestic demand and productive capacity, all of which presents logistical as well as economies of size problems. As price takers, producers in the Pacific islands are engaged in producing limited number of tropical commodities, many of which have suffered long-run decline in both nominal and real world market prices, they remain highly vulnerable to the vagaries of the world markets such as price oscillations, inelastic foreign demand, low productivity, slow growth and nature-controlled climatic phenomenon's such as El Nino, and rising sea levels.

 Collectively, these impediments restrict opportunities for diversification, integration, competitiveness, profitability, price recovery and servicing of all markets--domestic, regional and international. For the record, in some PICs, there is little to show in terms of progress in diversification since the mid-1980s. This is inspite of the fact that these countries do possess both comparative as well as competitive advantages in producing selected agricultural commodities. In some cases, the situation seems to be worsening, particularly in smaller, atoll and artisinal island economies. Inadequate transportation and communications infrastructure, weak institutional linkages, poor governance and 'mob rule" pose additional challenges. Given the dynamic environment in which commodity sub-sectors co-exist and function, their long-run comparative advantage and competitiveness are not assured. Appropriate policy interventions at both local and regional levels are needed to assist PICs maintain these advantages.

 Faced with both developmental challenges and pitfalls resulting from intense global competitiveness, PICs need to identify and appropriate new forms of "economic rent", institute innovative but proven market-based instruments in natural resource management, improve the utilization and distribution of rents, devise appropriate policies and strategies on diversification, and foster value-adding and niche market product that would deliver them from the tyranny of commodity dependency.

 It is against the backdrop of these features that the Pacific Regional Workshop (PRW) is organized which is expected to: bring UNCTAD closer to over 6.83 million people and observe, listen and learn of their real problems; provide a arena for the governments of PICs and collaborating development partners to optimize their understanding and collectively identify appropriate policies, strategies and pragmatic solutions based on sound analysis; and add-value to UNCTAD's work on diversification and natural resources management.

For additional information on the PRW, please contact Amos Wama Taporaie, on phone: (4122) 917 75776; fax: (4122) 917 0509, or email: amos.taporaie@unctag.org.