Upholding Pacific-led development to protect Pacific economic sovereignty
The promises of the ‘Blue Economy’ have opened up a variety of avenues for external powers to use the rhetoric for development to exploit the markets and resources of our Pacific. The enabling mechanisms of the Blue Economy include fisheries, free trade agreements, debt, and sustainability. PANG challenges the narrow, neoliberal definition of development that is pushed onto the Pacific through the constraints on development options, and defend the right for Pacific peoples to be economically self-determining.
Refute the neoliberal narrative that trade liberalisation across existing and emerging industries such as digital trade is essential to Pacific development and addressing the climate crises; Advocate walking away from signing of new free trade agreements that limit the sovereignty of Pacific Island Countries;
Promote alternative pathways for Pacific led development that are based on economic sovereignty and protects policy space.