Policy sovereignty in the Pacific
New Caledonia Intervention
Friday 11 April, 9.00-11.00
Mme Chair,
Diplomatic Representatives from the Pacific region,
Victoria University staff and students,
Ladies and gentlemen,
Thank you for allowing me to take the floor today. I would like to introduce
myself before moving on to the details of my participation in the research.
I have a PhD in Pacific Marine sciences and I worked in Japan and Fiji, before
joining the New Caledonian Public Service in 1991.
After 16 years of research in New Caledonia, I decided, in 2005, to move into
the regional cooperation and external relations department. In doing so, I sought
to deepen my understanding of regional geopolitics to better promote New
Caledonia on the regional scene.
Following a three-year secondment to New Zealand, I was nominated as the
“Official representative of New Caledonia to New Zealand”. I took up this
position, based at the Embassy of France in Wellington, in November 2012.
The role, created by the Nouméa Accord - signed in 1998 between France and
New Caledonia – is significant as it is the first official representation of a French
infra-state territory to a sovereign State, New Zealand.
The missions assigned to the Official representative are:
• firstly, a triple bilateral mission consisting of:
- reinforcing the political dialogue between the New Zealand Government
and New Caledonian institutions;
-
growing cooperation between New Caledonia and New Zealand, in the
fields of politics, economy, culture and education, and science and
innovation;
-
developing trade relations between the two countries.
• secondly, a multilateral mission overseeing the relationship between New
Caledonia and the Pacific Islands Forum.
In both the bilateral and multilateral missions, my main challenge consists of, as
I like to say, “putting New Caledonia on the map”. In other words, to tackle the
Territory’s lack of image by taking any opportunities to raise awareness of New
Caledonia’s specificity and strengths, both in New Zealand and the Pacific
region.
With regards to my participation in “The Inverse Sovereignty Effect: Aid in
the Pacific” research project
When I heard in mid-2012 from the Pacific Aid Research Group - through John
OVERTON and Gerard PRINSEN - of an emergent study on the effects of Aid
in the Pacific region, I thought that it would be a unique opportunity for New
Caledonia. In its initial format, the study, funded for three years by the Marsden
Fund and administered by the Royal Society of New Zealand, aimed at
evaluating the effects of development aid on the economic and political
sovereignty of 8 Pacific Countries (CI, SA, TU, KI, SI, TO, VA, FJ).
Although Territories were not initially included in the study, John, Gerard and I
agreed that, subject to complementary funding, adding New Caledonia to the
study would represent a unique and specific case of a Territory experimenting an
ongoing “emancipation” process.
The following 7 strong arguments could be put forward to include New
Caledonia in this comparative study:
-
i) the ongoing evolution of New Caledonian institutional and political
frameworks, through the implementation of the Noumea Accord, New
Caledonia’s road map to a successful regional integration;
-
ii) the exceptional status (shared with French Polynesia and Wallis &
Futuna) of being a Territory of the EU, France and the Pacific, and
therefore being eligible for various sources of funding;
-
iii) the relatively recent development of New Caledonia’s foreign policy;
-
iv) the efforts undertaken to enhance cooperation with regional
organizations at both technical (SPC and SPREP) and political (PIF)
levels;
-
v) the ability to ensure the sustainable development of the island for
current and future generations, by making a compromise between nickel
ore exploitation (3rd world producer) and the conservation of the world’s
second largest lagoon, registered in 2008 as a World Heritage site;
-
vi) a stable legal and social environment, quite unique today within the
Melanesion Arc;
-
vii) and a strong economic sector, driven by nickel ore exports and
transfers from France, that places New Caledonia ahead of New Zealand
in terms of GDP per capita (35,242 USD compared to 32,619) and
explains why New Caledonia is today the 3rd trade export market for New
Zealand in the Pacific.
My contribution to the research has been a little “unconventional” as it
combines my role as a diplomatic representative with my research
background:
-
firstly, in collaboration with the Pacific Aid Research Group, I co-wrote a
proposal to the French Pacific Fund, in order to have New Caledonia
included in the comparative study;
32,000 NZ$ was eventually granted to involve 2 Nouméa-based
institutions, the University of New Caledonia and the Development
Research Institute (IRD). These two research bodies have since worked
closely with Victoria and Massey Universities, and the University of the
South Pacific in Suva;
-
secondly, I contributed to the identification of “politically non-sensitive”
indicators of sovereignty for New Caledonia (newspapers on Health and
Education, scholarships, and evaluation reports on development
projects);
-
finally, I co-wrote a follow-up article entitled “Sovereignty and island
states: The case of New Caledonia’s paradiplomacy”. In this to-bepublished article, two attributes of sovereignty are presented and
discussed, raising a flag and installing diplomatic representatives.
To conclude Mme Chair, in addition to the Noumea Accord implementation,
through the irreversible transfer of powers from France, pursuing the
development of New Caledonia’s foreign policy is a crucial step. Fostering the
ongoing development of a foreign policy that has to encompass European,
regional and bilateral stakes, is key to anchoring New Caledonia as one of the
region’s major players.
In order to reach this goal, New Caledonia, like its neighbours within the region,
needs to enhance its ownership of ongoing development processes in the
Territory, and on this particular matter, the comparative study results – as
presented and discussed today - are full of lessons to learn.
Thank you Mme Chair. Kia Ora. Merci. Oleti.