Regional Archive February 2012

Development partners have agreed on the importance of coordinating better their national and regional level initiatives to strengthen democratic institutions and good governance in the Pacific.

'Gender mainstreaming must be taken seriously in all the work of the Marshall Islands government.'

[24th February 2012: Majuro, Marshall Islands] "We have much to share and learn in return."

Previous attempts to intensify production of crops in the Pacific have not included adequate research and development (R&D).

The European Union and the Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat yesterday signed a contribution agreement to the value of 1 million Euros to support Pacific island countries in their ratification and implementation of international Human Rights Treaties and the Rome Statute.

The price of petroleum products in 2012 is anyone's guess, but the effort to promote sustainable energy and energy security must continue, said Solomone Fifita, head of the SPC Economic Development Division's Energy Programme.

The Secretariat of the Pacific Community (SPC) Land Resource Division (LRD) is organising a workshop to help Pacific Island countries and territories strengthen their production of valuable crops by better managing pests.

Creating commercial industries based on the unique heritage of the Pacific was the focus of a four-day workshop co-facilitated by the Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat and the Secretariat of the Pacific Community (SPC) in Suva.

MANILA, 13 February 2012 - WHO's Western Pacific Regional Office today urged its Member States to make a final push to address leprosy in the Region.

SPC is working with the Fiji Department of Forestry to build capacity in using very high resolution satellite images to map land and forest cover in Fiji.

On 6 February 1947, the governments of Australia, France, Great Britain, the Netherlands, New Zealand and the United States of America signed the Canberra Agreement that established the South Pacific Commission, now called the Secretariat of the Pacific Community (SPC).

MANILA, 3 February 2012 - On the eve of World Cancer Day, the World Health Organization (WHO) urged governments to strengthen national control programmes, including by raising awareness, amid an alarming rise of cancer cases.

DELHI, INDIA - At a forum today, Asian Development Bank (ADB) President Haruhiko Kuroda outlined steps countries in the Asia and the Pacific region are already taking to protect shared natural resources and called for more private sector involvement in the building of green infrastructure.

PFF, Rarotonga, COOK ISLANDS-- Journalists in Papua New Guinea must be able to report the ongoing political tensions in the country without fear or intimidation, says Pacific media monitoring watchdog the Pacific Freedom Forum, PFF.