Press Release – Pacific Institute of Public Policy

The history of the Pacific is a history of migration. Yet modern barriers to migration impede development in the Pacific island countries facing degraded resources, high rates of natural population increase, low-lying geographies. Read more »

Press Release – Pacific Islands Forum

Boosting trade and investment to help increase growth and development in Pacific island countries will be the top priority for Forum Trade Ministers when they meet in Pohnpei in the Federated States of Micronesia this week. Read more »

Press Release – Club Med

Auckland, New Zealand – Tuesday 27th April 2009 . The world’s most inclusive resort company, Club Med today celebrates 60 years in providing a unique holiday concept to millions of holidaymakers around the world. Read more »

Article – Businesswire

April 27 (BusinessWire) – Weak economic recovery is reflected in new figures showing New Zealand businesses are increasing the average amount of time to pay their bills. Read more »

Press Release:
Pacific Islands Forum.

Boosting trade and investment to help increase growth and development in Pacific island countries will be the top priority for Forum Trade Ministers when they meet in Pohnpei in the Federated States of Micronesia this week.

At their two-day meeting to be held 29 – 30 April, Ministers will discuss developments in the on-going PACER Plus trade negotiations as well as examine ways to increase exports and investment through the region’s network of Pacific Islands Trade and Investment Commissions. Read more »

Press Release:
Greenpeace, Suva.

Suva, Fiji Islands,  A decision to set aside 4.5million square kilometers of international waters in the Pacific as off-limits to purse seine fishing for tuna represents one of the largest ocean protection moves in history said Greenpeace. (1)

In congratulating the leaders who orchestrated this as a component to the Parties to the Nauru Agreement (PNA) (2) meeting in the Marshall Islands last week, the international environmental group said Pacific Island Countries have shown exceptional and much needed leadership in defending the Pacific ocean at a time when it is needed most. Read more »

University of Papua New Guinea students sign a petition calling on Parliament to reject the proposed amendment soon after last Friday’s public debate at the university’s main lecture theatre. Photo: The National.

Pacific Scoop editor’s note: The Papua New Guinea Government’s draft Ombudsman Commission Amendment Bill appears to be designed by politicians to allow the Ombudsman Commission funds to be cut. Some in PNG fear the move will prevent the Ombudsman’s Office from investigating senior politicians. The following report is courtesy of The National in PNG.

PORT MORESBY (The National) – Papua New Guinea’s Media Council president Joe Kanekane says he had been given a petition by the Highlands communities opposing the Ombudsman Commission Amendment Bill in Parliament next month. Read more »

A Papuan family with one child who has a bloated stomach, a sure sign of malnutrition.

Pacific Scoop:
Report – By Walhamri Wahid.

Bintang Papua – TAPOL – The sight of shops, shopping malls, supermarkets and hotels everywhere in a city is no way to judge progress in Papua because all these are run by just a handful of people, the majority of whom are newcomers, while Papuans are becoming increasingly marginalised, doing their trade sitting on gunny sacks on the side of the road, with nothing more than candles to illuminate their wares. The influx of migrants is turning Papuans into nothing more that spectators.

There is surely no one who doesn’t visit the many shopping malls and supermarkets which have sprung up everywhere in Jayapura and other towns in Papua except for Papuans living in the interior who walk around barefoot. But have we ever asked ourselves, when seeing all these shops: ‘How many Papuans are working in these supermarkets?’ You could count them on the fingers of one hand. Read more »

Kichawen Chakumai (left), deputy dean of the Faculty of Health Sciences, Divine Word University, and Dr Gawrie Galappaththy, World Health Organisation consultant from Sri Lanka. Photo: DWU

Pacific Scoop:
Report – By Fabian Hakalits, Rachel Atua and Karen Abenisa in  Madang

Malaria is by far the most widespread health problem in Papua New Guinea, with more than 1.6 million cases reported annually and more than 600 deaths directly attributed to the disease, according to Mr Kichawen Chakumai, Deputy Dean of the Faculty of Health Sciences at Divine Word University, Madang, PNG.

In response to this situation, Papua New Guinea’s National Department of Health is launching a full scale assault on malaria to coincide with World Malaria Day April 25, 2010. Read more »

Press Release – Pacific Island Forum

The Cairns Compact Peer Review process continues in Kiribati this week to guide improvements in development coordination. Kiribati was one of the first Forum Island Countries, along with Nauru, to volunteer for the Cairns Compact Peer Review exercise. Read more »