The Fiji government says the Pacific trade agreement PACER-Plus is unbalanced and needs to be tailored to better serve the region.
PACER-Plus negotiations began in 2009 and include agreements on trade in goods and services, investment, labour mobility and development.
Fiji TV reports the Minister for Industry, Trade and Tourism, Faiyaz Koya, as saying the potential for growth is massive if all parties agree on the principle of equal partnership.
"Fiji's main objective is to ensure that PACER-Plus lives up to its purpose as a development agreement, and not as an unbalanced agreement that provides New Zealand and Australia unprecedented access to the Pacific markets without giving anything tangible and binding in return."
Fiji's Minister for Industry, Trade and Tourism, Faiyaz Koya. Photo: Fiji government
Trade negotiators from around the Pacific will next month meet with their counterparts from Australia and New Zealand in Port Vila to discuss the agreement.
Meanwhile, the Chief Trade Advisor for the Pacific Island countries is defending the planned PACER-Plus agreement, saying it represents an important opportunity for the region.
PACER-Plus negotiations between Australia, New Zealand and 14 Pacific Island nations, include region-wide agreements on trade in goods and services, investment, labour mobility and development, are expected to be finalised at the end of this year.
Edwini Kessie says claims countries will not have an ability to regulate, and that Australia and New Zealand will have unfettered access to Pacific markets, are simply not true.
Dr Kessie says the agreement will mean improved market access for Pacific products, more development assistance and increased labour mobility.
"The islands are very fragile. And without a robust trade agreement the countries cannot develop on the back of only receiving development assistance. So the picture that a trade agreement is not necessarily in the interest of Pacific Island countries, I think that is a distorted view."
Pacific Island countries have been given until December to finalise negotiations.
