VZCZCXRO2385
OO RUEHPB
DE RUEHWL #0815/01 2910458
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
O 180458Z OCT 06
FM AMEMBASSY WELLINGTON
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 3386
INFO RUEHBY/AMEMBASSY CANBERRA IMMEDIATE 4568
RUEHPB/AMEMBASSY PORT MORESBY IMMEDIATE 0602
RUEHSV/AMEMBASSY SUVA IMMEDIATE 0519

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 WELLINGTON 000815 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR EAP/FO AND EAP/ANP 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 10/18/2016 
TAGS: PREL PGOV NZ XV XU
SUBJECT: NZ WORRIES FRICTIONS COULD DERAIL PACIFIC ISLAND 
FORUM 
 
REF: STATE 171852 
 
Classified By: DCM David J. Keegan, 
for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d) 
 
¶1.  (C) Summary:  New Zealand is working behind the scenes to 
help ensure that frictions over the Solomon Islands and other 
regional issues do not derail the October 23-26 Pacific 
Island Forum (PIF) meetings.  PMs Clark and Howard are 
scheduled to discuss their goals for the meeting by telephone 
on October 18.  NZ officials would like leaders to commit to 
streamline PIF architecture within the next few years without 
endorsing any specific proposals, and to agree on a format 
for future Pacific Forum Dialogue (PFD) meetings. On the 
Pacific Plan, NZ would like to see the PIF agree to examine 
the potential benefits of integrating regional 
transportation, information technology and communications. 
New Zealand officials intend to offer a new visa program for 
seasonal agricultural workers from the Pacific Islands, which 
should complement Australia's plan to finance regional 
training centers for skilled labor.  End Summary. 
 
------------------- 
Tensions in the Air 
------------------- 
 
¶2.  (C) On October 17, DCM and Pol-Econ Couns discussed New 
Zealand's goals for the PIF meetings with Deputy Foreign 
Secretary Alan Williams and Heather Riddell, Director of the 
 
SIPDIS 
Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade's Pacific Division. 
Williams said the GNZ is concerned that regional tensions 
have the potential to make the PIF meetings complex and 
contentious.  PM Clark will call PM Howard this Friday to 
discuss ways to prevent a dust-up as well as to discuss other 
goals for the meetings. 
 
¶3.  (C) Williams said conflicts between the Regional 
Assistance Mission to the Solomon Islands (RAMSI) and GOS, as 
well as Papua New Guinea's role in helping suspended GOS 
Attorney General Moti escape to the Solomons, are both 
potential flashpoints that GNZ fears could cause the 
Melanesian countries taking an "us vs. them" stance at the 
meetings.  This could prevent the PIF from endorsing RAMSI's 
work and erode the Mission's ability to operate.  NZ believes 
one possible solution is to have regular consultations 
between the Solomons, RAMSI, and the PIF, to "provide a 
circuit breaker on Solomons/RAMSI tensions. The Melansian 
Spearhead Group went to Canberra recently to discuss this 
idea.  Williams acknowledged that Australia might be anxious 
that the proposal would undermine RAMSI, but this possibility 
could be minimized through careful planning.  Another 
possibility would be to put a PIF representative in Honiara. 
Virtually every PIF country has a role in RAMSI, and more 
dialogue would put a helpful regional "fingerprint" on the 
Mission, said Williams. 
 
¶4.  (C) Riddell and Williams downplayed rumors that the PIF 
will vote to replace Forum Secretary General Greg Urwin as an 
anti-Australian gesture, although Melanesia may run another 
candidate to symbolically "stir the pot."  There are no 
serious candidates out there, Riddell said.  She also said 
she does not believe that recent anti-Government remarks by 
Fiji's military commander Bainimarama posed an immediate 
threat to the PIF or the GOF, although NZ is watching the 
situation closely.  Bainimarama will be in the Middle East 
for the next three weeks, she added.  (Yesterday, Foreign 
Minister Peters issued a statement strongly condemning the 
Commodore's remarks.  This morning, PM Clark told a local 
radio news program that she took Bainimarama's threats 
seriously.) 
 
--------------------------------------------- ----- 
NZ Agrees with US on Regional Institutional Reform 
--------------------------------------------- ----- 
 
¶5.  (C) Riddell said GNZ agrees with the USG view (reftel) 
that streamlining the PIF by consolidating existing 
organizations could have legal and financial implications for 
non-PIF members.  For this reason NZ does not want the PIF to 
endorse any specific proposals at next week's meetings.  But 
streamlining is an idea "long overdue," and GNZ therefore 
would like leaders to establish a task force and give it a 
fairly short time frame within which to make its report. 
Riddell said NZ hopes the work could be done in two to three 
years, but she acknowledged this was ambitious. 
 
--------------------------------------------- -------------- 
PIF Needs to Endorse PFD Restructuring and the Pacific Plan 
 
WELLINGTON 00000815  002 OF 002 
 
 
--------------------------------------------- -------------- 
 
¶6.  (C) Riddell said that the PIF Senior Officials' meeting 
she attended had made good progress in suggesting ways to 
maximize PFD meetings, but it is now up to the leaders. New 
Zealand's goal is for leaders to support the findings of the 
PFD review, acknowledging there are some practical issues to 
work through.  If the PIF and the PFD endorse the broad 
proposal, they could then work inter-sessionally on 
additional "tweaks," and implement the plan by next year's 
meeting.  Riddell said GNZ does not believe that a new format 
will in itself maximize PIF/partner interaction, but it will 
be a good start. 
 
¶7.  (C) Noting the Pacific Plan's goal of regional 
integration, Riddell said GNZ will propose the PIF focus on 
the potential impact on PIF countries and the region of 
integrating three key sectors: information technology and 
communications, energy, and transportation.  She said that it 
was impossible to focus on the 24 goals laid out in the Plan, 
which clearly cannot all be priorities. 
 
-------------- 
Labor Mobility 
-------------- 
 
¶8.  (C) According to Williams and Riddell, NZ and Australia 
both plan to introduce new measures to respond to PIC 
leaders' interest in improving conditions for regional labor 
mobility.  On the day of our meeting, NZ Government Ministers 
met to approve a plan to encourage NZ farmers and vintners to 
employ Pacific Islanders as short term agricultural workers. 
GNZ issues about 90,000 temporary visas annually for seasonal 
work, mostly to those already here on working holiday or 
tourist visas.  Just under 6 percent are issued to Pacific 
Islanders.  Under the new scheme, if accredited employers can 
demonstrate there are no Kiwis available to do the work, the 
Government will provide them with the names of eligible 
Pacific Islanders.  This presumably will be easier for the 
farmers than locating workers from around the country. 
According to Williams, Australia plans to offer funding for 
regional training centers, making it possible for more 
skilled Pacific Island workers to migrate to find work 
because they have the skills Australian and other foreign 
employers seek, not because of nationality preferences. 
Williams said that GNZ will implement its program with 
deliberation, to avoid potential problems.  GNZ also wants to 
be careful to be seen as complementing Australia's approach, 
rather than as more open to PIC workers than Australia.  Both 
proposals serve different needs, said Williams, so should 
complement rather than compete with each other. 
 
 
McCormick