Research carried out by PANG
into current trade and globalisation issues. This section includes major reports commissioned
by PANG on the impact of Free Trade agreements for the Pacific (including PICTA, PACER and the
EU’s Economic Partnership Agreements). This section also contains periodical, issue based, 'Position Papers' produced by PANG.
Our research is intended to provide churches, NGOs, unions, politicians and other activists with
the knowledge to intervene critically and effectively in trade processes - with
the understanding that such intervention allows people to be involved in the
social and economic planning that so dramatically effects their own
communities.
Further research material is available at making sense of globalisation, or see links for external sites. Please return often for updated research material.
PANG Reports Major
reports commissioned by PANG on new and complex trade negotiations/agreements
facing the Pacific.
Big Brothers Behaving Badly See full text here... A prelude to the Peoples' Guide to the Pacific Agreement on Closer Economic Relations-PACER (see below), Big Brothers was produced for PANG by Professor Jane Kelsey of Auckland University. Big Brothers was produced as an interim report that covered much of the process that led to the signing of teh initial PACER agreement. This paper was well recieved by many Pacific trade ministers, who privately appreciated the way this paper exposes the bullying tactics used by Australia and NZ to push the Pacific to make commitments towards negotiating a regional FTA including the Islands' two 'Big Brothers'.
A Peoples' Guide to The Pacific Agreement on Closer
Economic Relations (PACER) See full text here... Commissioned by the Pacific Network on Globalisation (PANG) and produced by Professor Jane Kelsey of Auckland University, A People’s Guide to PACER, provides user-friendly information on the PACER negotiations, including case studies from the Pacific region on the ways that a new FTA with Australia and NZ will impact local business and society. This report also covers the Pacific Island Countries Trade Agreement (PICTA).
A Peoples' Guide to the Pacific's Economic Partnership
Agreement with the EU See full text here... This report
was commissioned by the World Council of Churches, Office in the Pacific, to
examine the negotiations between the European Union and the Pacific ACP states
for a Pacific regional Economic Partnership Agreement that have resulted from
the Cotonou Agreement. The People's Guide uses a question and answer format
to provide churches, NGOs, unions, politicians and other activists with the
knowledge to intervene critically and effectively in the process, which they
can then translate into more accessible and creative forms for their own
communities.
A Social Impact Assessment of the Economic Partnership Agreement being negotiated between the European Community and the Pacific ACP States. See full text here... This Social Impact Assessment was commissioned by the Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat. The impact assessment was undertaken by the Pacific Network on Globalisation, with a final draft of the report submitted to the Forum Secretariat in March 2008. This report details some of the potential social impacts of an EPA with the EU for Pacific states, and outline ways these impacts could be mitigated. The report draws on research from six countries – Papua New Guinea, Kiribati, Republic of Marshall Islands, Samoa, Solomon Islands and Fiji.
PANG Position Papers
'Time to make trade fair: lift the kava bans' PANG Official Paper on the European Kava Bans (27 September 2007)
Abstract: "Kava
has a long history of safe use in the islands of the South Pacific as a
ceremonial and social drink. During the late 1990s, kava became an important
export product for the Pacific Island Countries (PICs) when kava-products were
sold internationally as food-supplement and pharmaceutical products. The
industry was worth around $US200 million each year to the PICs. In
2002, countries in the European Union, led by Germany,
imposed bans on kava-products which crippled the PacificIsland
export industry. As indicated in this paper, the bans on kava products are unfair
and discriminatory – especially with the release of a World Health Organisation
report earlier this year indicating how kava products can be safely sold into Europe. The
Pacific Network on Globalisation (PANG) is calling on the EU to stop destroying
a vibrant Pacific export industry and to allow the sale of kava-products,
following World Health Organisation guidelines." Read
PANG’s Official Paper on the European Kava Bans…
