The Parliamentary Secretary to the Treasurer, the Hon. David Bradbury MP, recently represented Australia at the annual Pacific Islands Forum Economic Ministers' Meeting (FEMM) at Alofi, Niue.
"It was a privilege to represent Australia at the 14th FEMM as part of our ongoing efforts to support economic development in the Pacific region," said Mr Bradbury.
"Nations in the Pacific are still struggling to recover from the effects of the global economic crisis.
"I worked with my Ministerial colleagues to reach agreement on a set of actions to expand the economic base so as to accelerate the progress of reducing poverty in the Pacific by 2015 in line with the Millennium Development Goals.
"Other agreed actions included driving regional coordination of development resources under the Cairns Compact, working towards lowering remittance costs and strengthening public financial management through better reporting and accountability.
"To advance the goal of better reporting and accountability, I announced that Australia has provided $3 million to the Pacific Region Audit Initiative.
"I also reaffirmed Australia's commitment to advocate for the economic development of the Pacific as part of our role in the G20."
FEMM was attended by representatives from Australia, the Cook Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, Kiribati, Nauru, Niue, New Zealand, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Republic of the Marshall Islands, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Tuvalu and Vanuatu, as well as observers from development partners including the World Bank, International Monetary Fund, Asian Development Bank and the United Nations Development Programme.
2 November 2010