The seventh Forum Trade Ministers' Meeting has opened in Majuro with the Marshall Islands President Christopher Loeak calling for speedier negotiations on free trade deals with Australia, New Zealand and the European Union.
He says the region's failure to reach agreement is depriving it of real benefits.
The meeting has brought together trade ministers from more than a dozen Pacific countries for discussions that will feed recommendations to Pacific Islands Forum heads of state when they meet later in the year.
The Forum Secretary General Tuiloma Neroni Slade has told the ministers he hopes free trade agreements will drive economic growth in the region.
Mr Slade identified a range of technical issues - rules of origin, labour mobility, customs regulations, sanitary standards and others - that need to be fleshed out in the ongoing negotiations.
The Marshall Islands President says just this week his government adopted its first trade policy framework, which will help the country sign onto the various agreements now under negotiation.
