Climate change, labour mobility and North Korea were some of the key discussions held at the Pacific Islands Forum's annual leaders' summit last week.
The leaders of the Forum countries -- including, for the first time, New Caledonia and French Polynesia as full members -- met in Samoa's capital, Apia.
They agreed to cooperate to meet their Paris climate agreement goals, to force North Korean fishing boats out of their waters, and, of course, there was plenty of talk about frameworks and partnerships.
Australia's prime minister, Malcolm Turnbull, announced that up to 2,000 Pacific Islanders will be able to work in rural areas of Australia to cover job shortages, including in the tourism sector.
Our correspondent in Samoa, Autagavaia Tipi Autagavaia, told Jamie Tahana about the key agreements.
Transcript
Leaders at the opening of the Pacific Islands Forum in Samoa.
Photo: Tipi Autagavaia
AUTAGAVAIA TIPI AUTAGAVAIA: The leaders reaffirmed their call for the framework for the resilient development of the Pacific to be fully elaborated to reflect the outcomes of the Paris agreement and called on the secretariat to undertake a process for this elaboration. The also supported a trial basis for an initial period of two years for the proposed Pacific resilience partnership governance arrangement agreed by the PRP working group to ensure effective implementation.
JAMIE TAHANA: So what exactly does that mean?
ATA:Well I think the current chair of the Pacific Forum Leaders which is our prime minister. He said that the leaders welcome the early entry into the force of the Paris Agreement. They also reaffirmed the Pacific Islands commitment to work with others to remain steadfast in their obligations under the Paris Agreement.
JT: So this is an agreement to sort of help each other reach what they have signed to do in the Paris Agreement?
ATA: Exactly.
JT: That is one of the big agreements to come from it. Were there any others?
ATA: Well it think one of the other agreements made by the leaders was they all united in condemning the threat by North Korea and they are also stopping all fishing vessels from North Korea to fish in the EEZ of all the Pacific member countries.
JT: Okay and also some labour mobility. Australia letting in what is it 20,000 workers into regional Australia?
ATA: That is the biggest move by Australia if you look at what the prime minister has announced in the meeting that is a huge number of people from the Pacific who are going to have seasonal work in Australia. And also the prime minister of Australia extended that opportunity to the tourism industry.
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