David McAllister MEP – On the EU’s relations with the Pacific countries

The Pacific Island Countries (PICs) are key partners for the European Union. We share important priorities: support for multilateralism and the rules-based order, climate change, protection of the oceans, biodiversity and sustainable development.

Pacific countries supported the EU on Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine. We are allies as regards climate change and see eye-to-eye on many global challenges. The key priorities of the 2050 Strategy for the Blue Pacific Continent that the countries in the region have elaborated themselves correspond to those of the EU’s Indo-Pacific Strategy.

The EU is a reliable development partner of the Pacific. During the time from 2014 until 2027, we have committed more than 1.5 billion euro to the region; for 2021-2027 EU support amounts to around 750 million euro. Pacific ownership is a key principle for us; we support the region’s priorities as outlined in the 2050 Strategy for the Blue Pacific Continent.

Climate security is a key, shared concern and we are already bringing forward an ambitious climate change agenda.

The Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) between the EU and PICs offer full tariff-free and quota-free access to goods for the EU market and it is a success story: EU trade with the Pacific region has doubled (totalled 4 billion euro); five more Pacific Island Countries are in the process of joining the EPA.

We stand by the PICs when the region is facing natural disasters (over 33 million euro in the last 15 years on humanitarian assistance and disaster preparedness).

The EU is stepping up its engagement in the Pacific. First in the context of our Strategy for Cooperation in the Indo-Pacific. But now also with a dedicated Pacific Chapter of our partnership agreement with 79 countries in Africa, the Caribbean and the Pacific. It was signed in November in Apia and is called the „Samoa agreement.“ With the Samoa Agreement we have taken the next step in our relations. It presents a new framework agreement to strengthen relations and engagement across the board, including in areas that are challenging to both of us – such as ocean governance, illegal fishing, maritime security and cybersecurity.

The Pacific has recently become a theatre of what one could call increasing geopolitical tension. There is a clear convergence among many PICs with our values, such as the importance of the rule of law in international relations and democracy. The Pacific is of growing geopolitical relevance and is a strategic region for the EU – we find here many like-minded partners that share our interest in multilateralism, a rule-based international order, and important issues such as climate change; the region contains strategic maritime routes and the world’s largest oceanic economic zones.

The Pacific is of strategic importance for Europe’s prosperity and security. While far away geographically, what happens in the Pacific matters to the EU. We live in an inter-connected world, where security and development in one region impact on others. The EU believes that international relations should be based on the rule of law, that most of the problems of today are of a global nature – and hence require global solutions. And these can only work with strong multilateral institutions. It is important that we – Pacific Island Countries and the EU – will continue to be close partners in protecting and enhancing this multilateral order that has served us well over the past decades.