Pacific Islands to receive funding and more ADB presence
BY MAUREEN N. MARATITA
Journal Staff
President Surangel S. Whipps Jr. and Masato Kanda, president of the Asian Development Bank. Photo courtesy of the Asian Development Bank
The United States and Australia announced on Sept. 2 at the Pacific Island Forum that each country will donate funding for the Pacific Islands, for a total of $580 million.
Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau announced the U.S will donate $150 million. That includes $60 million to help countries address the global energy crisis by expanding fuel storage capacity and supporting grid stability.
Since the onset of the war with Iran, the cost of gasoline in the islands has been notably high due to the region’s reliance on imported fuel and global market fluctuations. Gasoline prices in Palau hover between $6.75 and $7.07 per gallon.
Australia said it will donate $430 million to combat drug smuggling in the region, including funds for enhanced aerial surveillance and more training for police and border officials.
In a May 7 report from the Lowy Institute, José Sousa-Santos, associate professor and head of the Pacific Regional Security Hub, Macmillan Brown Centre for Pacific Studies, at the University of Canterbury, said that the drugs trade is entrenched in the Pacific. “In the global narcotics trade, transnational criminal networks are consolidating their hold on the Pacific drug highway. Technology is enabling these networks to adapt and refine tactics to evade detection in the region, resulting in a trafficking system that is distributed and resilient. The approach is less about the protection of individual shipments than ensuring the redundancy of the system as a whole,” he said.
In related news, the Asian Development Bank is expanding its presence across the North Pacific, according to a Sept 1. release.
On the side lines of the forum, and together with Presidents Surangel S. Whipps Jr. of Palau, Hilda C. Heine of the Marshall Islands, and Wesley W. Simina of the Federated States of Micronesia, Masato Kanda, president of the ADB, announced the upgrade of ADB’s Pohnpei office to a North Pacific Subregional Office, which is expected to be operational before year-end.
Additionally, a private sector hub in ADB’s Palau office will serve all three countries. mbj
KOROR and MELEKEOK, Palau — A select group of businesses participated in the Guam Business Magazine Trade Mission to Palau the week of Sept. 28, which was also supported by the Journal.
Qantas will double its direct service between Brisbane and Koror to two return flights a week during the peak season, after signing a new agreement to continue operating the Palau Paradise Express.
Leaders and officials converged here this week on the margins of the 55th Pacific Islands Forum Leaders Meeting, announcing a series of financial commitments aimed at bolstering the region’s fiscal stability, energy security and border security.
