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RUEHBS/USEU BRUSSELS

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 04 SUVA 000450 
 
SIPDIS 
 
COMMERCE FOR NOAA 
 
STATE PASS INTERIOR FOR OIA 
 
STATE FOR EAP/ANP, IO/EDA, DRL, AND OES/OA 
 
BANGKOK FOR REO AND AID/RDMA 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: AORC EAID PHUM EFIS SOCI XV SPC
SUBJECT: OUTCOMES OF THE 38TH SPC CRGA MEETING IN NOUMEA, NEW 
CALEDONIA, OCTOBER 13-17, 2008 
 
REF: A) Suva 386 
 
This message contains an action item for DRL, IO, and EAP.  Please 
see paragraphs 9 and 10. 
 
¶1. Summary: Institutional growth and change were the dominant themes 
of this year's annual SPC meeting in New Caledonia where members 
endorsed the SPREP Meeting decision on regional institutional 
restructuring and discussed other sweeping changes, including 
creation of a new Public Health Division.  The meeting approved a 
2009 budget that represents a dramatic expansion of programmatic and 
project funding and activity and considered a wide array of members' 
concerns ranging from regional shipping arrangements to food 
security to communications infrastructure.  End Summary. 
 
¶2. The 38th meeting of the Committee of Representatives of 
Governments and Administrations (CRGA) of the Pacific Community 
(SPC) took place in Noumea, New Caledonia, October 13-17, 2008. 
Twenty-four of SPC's member countries and territories took part, 
with only Guam and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands 
(CNMI) not in attendance.  Toetasi Fue Tuiteleleapaga, Chief Legal 
Counsel in the Office of the Governor of American Samoa ably chaired 
the meeting and was widely praised for the skill and good humor he 
deployed throughout the proceedings.  EAP/ANP's Aleisha Woodward 
headed the U.S. delegation.  Cooperation between the U.S. and 
American Samoan delegations was excellent. 
 
¶3. Institutional growth and change were the dominant themes of this 
year's CRGA.  The organization has doubled in size over the past 
twelve years, and its growth is set to continue unabated.  Infusions 
of funding from the GEF, the Global Fund, and the EU have fed the 
rapid expansion of SPC's programmatic activities in recent years, 
while the impact of higher project management fees, as well as 
exchange rate gains and higher than anticipated bank interest have 
given the organization a mid-year core budget surplus more than 5% 
above approved 2008 budget levels.  These factors allowed the 
secretariat to table a balanced budget for 2009 of 65,790,200 CFP 
units (approximately 75,000,000 USD) that is over 33% above the 
approved 2008 budget.  The 2009 budget includes salary increases of 
between 9.5% and 15.5%, which the meeting approved, as well as 
significant new hiring in corporate services and selected program 
areas.  Although some members, including the U.S. and French 
Polynesia expressed concerns over the implications of funding staff 
expansion with windfall interest and exchange rate gains the 
Director General's assurances that these recurring costs could be 
met from existing resources carried the day and the budget was 
approved. 
 
¶4. The rosy financial situation neither prevented the secretariat 
from proposing a 4% inflation adjustment, which members rejected, 
nor from calling for a change in policy to adopt a "same real 
budget" approach that would factor in annual increases for 
assessments.  A number of delegations, including France, Samoa, 
Australia and the United States, spoke against this policy change, 
which was also rejected.  The secretariat noted that the scale of 
assessments is due for review next year.  (Comment: Significant 
upward adjustments will likely be required from many members, 
although not from the United States, to cover costs of programs 
migrating to SPC from other regional organizations to which we do 
not belong.  See paragraphs 7 and 8 below. End Comment.) 
 
¶5. The dramatic expansion of health activities led the Secretariat 
to pull the Public Health Program out of the Social Resources 
Division to form a new Public Health Division.  (According to the 
Director General's Report, the Global Fund is now the second largest 
source of funds for SPC, behind Australia, although the bulk of 
Global Fund money only passes through SPC and is redistributed to 
 
SUVA 00000450  002 OF 004 
 
 
member countries as grants.  SPC was, nevertheless, managing over 
$18 million in Global Fund grants as of July 2008.) 
 
¶6. Despite a generally expanding financial resource base, an 
interruption in EU funding, caused by delays in reaching agreement 
on the next round of Pacific regional development assistance (EDF 
10), is threatening to disrupt some programs in agriculture and 
fisheries in 2009.  In the view of the secretariat this interruption 
highlights SPC's vulnerability to the vicissitudes of project 
funding, on which it continues to rely heavily.  Australia and New 
Zealand confirmed for the meeting that they are considering options 
for bridge funding for the affected programs.  (Note: The EU 
provided approximately 18% of total SPC funding in 2008 but is 
budgeted for only 8% for 2009 because of the gap between the 
expiring EDF 9 and the anticipated start of EDF 10 funding. End 
Note.) 
 
¶7. The Pacific Islands Forum (PIF) 2007 and 2008 leaders' decisions 
relating to the Regional Institutional Framework (RIF) Review is 
also fueling SPC's growth plans.  Members endorsed the process for 
managing the RIF-inspired "rationalization" of the functions of the 
South Pacific Applied Geosciences Commission (SOPAC) into SPC and 
the South Pacific Regional Environmental Programme (SPREP) that was 
agreed to at the 19th SPREP Meeting in Pohnpei in September (reftel) 
with only minor additions to the decision criteria for determining 
what SOPAC programs go where. The additional criteria are: 
transparency and timeliness with respect to the process, and 
effective involvement of stakeholders; cost-effectiveness; and 
analysis of the core function of each SOPAC program to asses whether 
it is primarily an environmental or economic development program. 
(Note: the SOPAC Governing Council endorsed its own minor variant of 
the SPREP RIF decision at its annual meeting in Tuvalu on October 
¶30.  The CEOs of the three organizations have begun consultations to 
implement the decision.  End Note.) 
 
¶8. In addition to the major expansion of the organization that is 
likely to result from the dissolution of SOPAC, SPC is also set to 
absorb the South Pacific Board for Educational Assessment (a small 
Suva-based Pacific regional organization that PIF leaders also 
decreed be disbanded in their RIF decisions).  Other RIF-driven 
restructuring is underway, and the meeting was advised that talks 
are ongoing between SPC and the Forum Fisheries Agency to more 
clearly differentiate their functions, and between the SPC and the 
PIF Secretariat on transferring PIF programmatic functions in 
energy, transportation, and infrastructure to SPC.  This impending 
transfer of functions from the PIF prompted Director General Jimmy 
Rodgers to announce his intention to create yet another new division 
devoted to these three issues and to transfer the SPC's Regional 
Maritime Program (responsible for shipping and port issues) from the 
Ocean Resources Division into this new division.  These new 
arrangements will be presented to the SPC Conference next year for 
formal endorsement. 
 
¶9. Last year's SPC Conference approved the transfer of the 
eleven-member Pacific Regional Rights Resource Team (RRRT) from 
UNDP's Pacific Center to SPC.  This Suva-based program is a 
technical advisory and training team specializing in human rights 
and governance issues.  RRRT has developed a draft strategic plan 
for 2008-2012 that it presented to members for their comments.  In 
introducing the plan, RRRT program manager Sandra Bernklau explained 
that human rights are often mistaken for political rights only, 
when, in reality, "human rights is essentially about service 
provision and meeting basic human needs such as health care, 
education, employment and protection of resources," in order to 
promote human development.  In the course of her presentation and 
subsequent discussion she noted the human rights aspects of a 
diverse set of issues ranging from copyrights to climate change. 
 
SUVA 00000450  003 OF 004 
 
 
Accordingly, RRRT's draft strategic plan has a strong emphasis on 
social and economic rights. The CRGA meeting decision invited 
members to provide inputs to the proposed strategic plan within six 
months--by April 15, 2009. 
 
¶10. Action Request for DRL, IO, and EAP: Please review the RRRT 
draft strategic plan in order to provide U.S. input by the deadline. 
 The document is available from EAP/ANP (Aleisha Woodward). 
 
¶11. Another aspect of SPC's expansion that received considerable 
attention is "decentralization."  In an effort to improve services 
in the under-served North Pacific, SPC opened a sub-regional office 
in Pohnpei, FSM, in 2006.  After some start-up problems, the move is 
now generally considered a success and other sub-regions want 
offices too.  Consequently plans are underway to open a Melanesia 
office in PNG and the SPC secretariat is discussing placement of a 
Polynesia office in either French Polynesia or the Cook Islands 
after that. 
 
¶12. In other business, the meeting reviewed activity reports and 
work plans for SPC's three existing program divisions (Ocean 
Resources, Land Resources, and Social Resources).  American Samoa 
reported on the Tenth Festival of Pacific Arts, which it hosted in 
July 2008, and acknowledged support from the U.S. Department of the 
Interior.  The meeting approved terms of reference for a major study 
on the future of fisheries pending further comments from members, 
which were due by October 31. (Note: EAP/ANP coordinated submission 
of U.S. comments with OES/OMC before the deadline. End note.) It 
approved establishment of a Millennium Development Goals monitoring 
support framework for PICs.  (The U.S. joined consensus on the 
measure only after reiterating our position that, while we support 
the MDG's themselves, we have not endorsed the UN 
secretariat-generated targets and indicators that are frequently 
employed to measure progress against them.) 
 
¶13. The meeting also considered special reports with recommendations 
on food security, climate change adaptation, sustainable land 
management, public health challenges, shipping and commodity mapping 
in small island states and territories.  It also discussed various 
communications infrastructure initiatives including; the Pacific 
Regional Internet Connectivity System (PACRICS); the South Pacific 
Information Network, an East-West submarine cable project, which 
numbers American Samoa among its six confirmed participants; and a 
One Laptop per Child pilot project that prompted concerns from some 
members about its dubious educational benefits, high costs and child 
exploitation dangers.  Members also discussed SPC's role in 
implementing the PIF's Pacific Plan and were briefed on Australia 
and New Zealand's joint review of their assistance to Pacific 
Regional Organizations. 
 
¶14.  Final housekeeping issues: 
 
--Observers and EU associate membership: In response to member 
requests, the secretariat plans to undertake a study of invitation 
procedures and criteria for NGO observers to SPC meetings and will 
also follow-up on an inquiry from the EU about possible associate 
member status. 
 
--Arrears (CNMI): In the process of accepting the auditor's report 
for 2007, members again discussed the issue of arrears.  The meeting 
supported the secretariat's decision to reject the auditor's 
recommendation to "provide for" (i.e. write off) long outstanding 
arrears and requested members that are in arrears to draw up a 
schedule to settle their debts.  According to documentation 
circulated by the secretariat, CNMI is among the most indebted 
members and is now over $230,000 (USD) in arrears. 
 
 
SUVA 00000450  004 OF 004 
 
 
--Future meetings: CRGA 39 will take place in Tonga from 30 
September through 2 October 2009 under the chairmanship if 
Australia.  This meeting will be followed by the 6th Conference of 
the Pacific Community on the 5th and 6th of October. 
 
¶15. This cable was cleared by delegation head Aleisha Woodward. 
 
McGann