Pacific Union

This article is about the proposed international organization. For the college in Northern California, see Pacific Union College.

The Pacific Union is a proposed development of the Pacific Islands Forum, first suggested in 2003 by a committee of the Australian Senate, into a political and economic intergovernmental community. The union, if formed, would have a common charter, institutions and currency. Although John Howard, the former Prime Minister of Australia, spoke of a Pacific Union whilst in office, his government's emphasis was focused on bilateral relations and agreements with the individual states of the Forum.

Pacific Union
Map indicating members of the Pacific Islands Forum (potential Pacific Union).
Potential members	16 states and 2 dependencies Australia Cook Islands FS Micronesia Fiji France (New Caledonia and French Polynesia) Kiribati Marshall Islands Nauru New Zealand Niue Palau Papua New Guinea Samoa Solomon Islands Tonga Tuvalu Vanuatu
Area
• Total	13,962,549 km2 (5,390,970 sq mi)
Population
• 2008 estimate	40 million
• Density	4/km2 (10.4/sq mi)
GDP (nominal)	2012 estimate
• Total	US$ 1.689 trillion
• Per capita	US$ 28,543
Currency	12 currencies Australian dollar CFP franc Cook Islands dollara Fijian dollar Kiribati dollarb New Zealand dollar Pa'anga Papua New Guinean kina Solomon Islands dollar Samoan tala Tuvaluan dollarb United States dollar Vanuatu vatu a Pegged to NZ dollar. b Pegged to Australian dollar.

Existing integration

The most prominent example of pre-existing regionalism amongst countries of the Pacific Ocean is the Pacific Islands Forum, an intergovernmental organisation that aims to represent the interests of its members and enhance cooperation between them. The Pacific Islands Forum does not have a common charter, institutions or currency.

Closer Economic Relations (CER) free trade agreement between the governments of New Zealand and Australia allow the free trade of most goods and services between the two nations without the tariff barriers or export incentives. The Melanesian Spearhead Group is a more recent trade treaty governing the four Melanesian states of Vanuatu, Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands and recently, Fiji. The nations of Australia, Nauru, Kiribati and Tuvalu use the Australian dollar while the Cook Islands, Niue, Tokelau, and New Zealand use the New Zealand Dollar.

In October 2000, national leaders of the Pacific Islands Forum signed the Biketawa Declaration constituting a framework for coordinating response to regional crises leading to New Zealand and Australian military and police forces participating in regional peacekeeping/stabilisation operations in Papua New Guinea (in Bougainville), Solomon Islands (2003–present), Nauru (2004–present) and Tonga (2006).

Future prospects

There has been a call from within both the Australian and New Zealand business communities to extend the Closer Economic Relations (CER) Free Trade Agreement to other Pacific Island nations, moving towards a single market and allowing the free movement of people and goods. Harmonising both the CER and the Pacific Regional Trade Agreement is one possibility of moving towards this goal. The idea's future has become somewhat confused with the Rudd government's call for an Asia-Pacific Community, which would have a wider membership than a Pacific Union.

See also

• CANZUK
• Caribbean Community and Common Market
• Continental union
  • African Union
  • Central Asian Union
  • ASEAN
  • Commonwealth of Independent States
  • Eurasian Economic Union
  • European Union
  • Latin American Integration Association
  • North American Union
    • North American Free Trade Agreement
  • Central American Integration System
  • Union of South American Nations
    • Mercosur

External links

• Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat
• The Pacific Plan

Articles, editorials and reports

• Engaging our neighbours: Towards a new relationship between Australian and the Pacific Islands Archived 2008-07-22 at the Wayback Machine
• Jim Rolfe (2006). "Beyond Cooperation: Towards an Oceanic Community". Australian Journal of International Affairs. 60 (1): 83-101. doi:10.1080/10357710500494598. S2CID 153787023.
• Regionalism in the Pacific: A New Development Strategy Archived 2008-02-27 at the Wayback Machine
• The Age (2003-08-13): Call for EU-Style 'Pacific Community'
• ABC (2003-08-18): Australia Floats 'Pacific Union' Idea
• The Age (2003-08-30): Time to Look at a Pacific Community
• The Age (2004-03-06): Bold Plan for Pacific Unity
• The Age (2004-04-06): Pacific Forum Beckons EU-Style Links
• ABC (2004-04-06): Pacific Plan Expected to Fall Short of Total Union
• The Age (2004-04-07): Pacific Heads Back Region Unity Plan
• Pacific Economic Bulletin (2005 #3): Towards a Pacific Community
• The Age (2005-10-09): Pacific Plan Puts Howard to the Test
• ABC (2006-07-23): Urwin Calls for Pacific Settlement